Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

This case presents a supply chain management challenge faced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in one of their aircraft door export project to a leading aircraft manufacturer located outside India. As per the contract, HAL has to deliver each aircraft door in a period specified by the aircraft manufacturer. Delivery of door outside this window attracts a penalty. The protagonist has to make decisions regarding when exactly to start the door's main assembly to overcome variability in the assembly of doors, how much inventory to maintain for 1222 parts that are used in the door assembly, how to manage variability in processing times, how to handle outsourcing, and how to manage parts with shelf life that are used in the door assembly. Students will have to use analytical tools to come up with decisions for the aforementioned questions. The case also provides an opportunity for the students to compare the complex nature of an aerospace supply chain with other industries such as automobiles. The case is suitable for supply chain management course as well as advanced operations management course at MBA as well as for executive program.

Authors :: Unnikrishnan Dinesh Kumar, Arun Manohar, G. N. Sripriya

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Business models, Supply chain, Time management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd." written by Unnikrishnan Dinesh Kumar, Arun Manohar, G. N. Sripriya includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Door Assembly facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Supply chain, Time management and Technology & Operations.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. casestudy better are - – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Door Assembly, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Door Assembly 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Door Assembly
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 Door Assembly

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Strengths Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Door Assembly in Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Door Assembly 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.

Analytics focus

– Door Assembly 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 Unnikrishnan Dinesh Kumar, Arun Manohar, G. N. Sripriya 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Door Assembly 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.

Organizational Resilience of Door Assembly

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Door Assembly does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

High brand equity

– Door Assembly has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Door Assembly to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Strong track record of project management

– Door Assembly is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field

– Door Assembly 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 Door Assembly in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Door Assembly is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Door Assembly 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Training and development

– Door Assembly has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Door Assembly has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Door Assembly 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Door Assembly in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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Weaknesses Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Unnikrishnan Dinesh Kumar, Arun Manohar, G. N. Sripriya suggests that, Door Assembly 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., is just above the industry average. Door Assembly 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 Door Assembly is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Door Assembly needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Door Assembly to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Door Assembly needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Door Assembly 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 Door Assembly 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 - Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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 Door Assembly supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Door Assembly vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Lack of clear differentiation of Door Assembly products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Door Assembly needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Door Assembly 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., in the dynamic environment Door Assembly has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Door Assembly has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Opportunities Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Door Assembly 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Door Assembly to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Door Assembly can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Door Assembly 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.

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. Door Assembly can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Door Assembly has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Door Assembly to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. case study. Door Assembly can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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 Door Assembly 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.

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. Door Assembly 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. Door Assembly 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Door Assembly 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 Door Assembly 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. Door Assembly can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Door Assembly to increase its market reach. Door Assembly 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, Door Assembly is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Door Assembly can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Loyalty marketing

– Door Assembly 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.

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Threats Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. are -

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.

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 Door Assembly in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Door Assembly is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Door Assembly 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Door Assembly has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Door Assembly 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.

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.

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 Door Assembly business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Door Assembly needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Door Assembly 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 Door Assembly 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.

Increasing wage structure of Door Assembly

– 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 Door Assembly.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Door Assembly 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Door Assembly 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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 Delivering Doors in a Window: Supply Chain Management at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. 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 Door Assembly needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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