Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model
DHAN is an NGO with a difference. It was not a charity, or a philanthropy or service organization but a development NGO, which focusses on grassroot development aided by professional management. At the same time, it has a clear vision that it is only an enabling institution rather than a directing agency. Dedicated to the mission of poverty eradication through grassroots development action, DHAN had made a significant impact on the Indian scene. It had already touched the lives of 1.5 million households during the course of its nearly 20-year journey and is poised to reach out to a further one million households over the next five years. In order to fulfill this ambitious mission, DHAN needed a steady stream of professionals with diverse skills to be trained and deployed pan India, spanning a wide spectrum of cultures, languages and sensitivities, truely a big challenge to contend with. Above all, for Vasimalai, the Executive Director who founded DHAN in 1997, and who is an ardent follower of Gandhian thought, the paramount challenge is to transmit his unique vision and development perspectives to the next generation of leaders, and build these perspectives into the very DNA of DHAN, so that the passion fopr development workwould continue unabated through the years. Vasi was a leader with a difference. After graduating from India's top business school, he forayed into the non-glamorous development sector marked by harsh work context and low material rewards. However, he received a greater reward - of responding to a higher calling or Dharma and making a difference to the lives of those who are at the bottom of the pyramid. DHAN being the vehicle he chose to fulfill that larger Dharma. Vasi's value-driven leadership style and DHAN's noble goal-orientation set them apart from the crowd. Uncannily though, they both seem to echo some of the most contemporary managment thinking, advocating alternate leadership styles and alternative organization paradigms.
Swot Analysis of "Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model" written by D.V.R. Seshadri, K. Sasidhar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dhan Dhan's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dhan Dhan's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dhan Dhan's 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dhan Dhan's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Dhan Dhan's
Strengths Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dhan Dhan's in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Dhan Dhan's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dhan Dhan's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dhan Dhan's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Dhan Dhan's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dhan Dhan's 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dhan Dhan's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dhan Dhan's 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 recruit top talent
– Dhan Dhan's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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.
Training and development
– Dhan Dhan's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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.
Learning organization
- Dhan Dhan's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Dhan Dhan's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Dhan Dhan's 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 Dhan Dhan's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Dhan Dhan's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dhan Dhan's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dhan Dhan's 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dhan Dhan's 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. Dhan Dhan's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Dhan Dhan's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dhan Dhan's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Dhan Dhan's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dhan Dhan's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dhan Dhan's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dhan Dhan's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Dhan Dhan's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model, is just above the industry average. Dhan Dhan's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dhan Dhan's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dhan Dhan's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Dhan Dhan's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dhan Dhan's 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 - Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model | 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dhan Dhan's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dhan Dhan's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Dhan Dhan's in the consumer business. Now Dhan Dhan's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Dhan Dhan's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dhan Dhan's can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dhan Dhan's 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
– Dhan Dhan's 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dhan Dhan's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dhan Dhan's to increase its market reach. Dhan Dhan's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dhan Dhan's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dhan Dhan's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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.
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. Dhan Dhan's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Dhan Dhan's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Dhan Dhan's 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. Dhan Dhan's 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.
Threats Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model are -
Environmental challenges
– Dhan Dhan's 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. Dhan Dhan's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Dhan Dhan's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Dhan Dhan's
– 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 Dhan Dhan's.
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. Dhan Dhan's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dhan Dhan's in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dhan Dhan's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dhan Dhan's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dhan Dhan's 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 Dhan Dhan's.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dhan Dhan's 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dhan Dhan's is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Dhan Dhan's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Creating Grassroots Leaders through DHAN's Unique Leadership Model 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 Dhan Dhan's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
