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Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management


On June 1, 2016 a student was preparing for a summer job with Agarwal Automobiles, a vehicle fuel station owned by his father. The student had taken courses that covered supply chain management, including inventory management and forecasting. His father had suggested that, as a summer project, the student examine the fuel station's retail inventory management practices with the intention of replacing the current simple rules with a more rational and complex planning model. The student needed some ideas to use as a guide toward a better ordering policy. The available data for the previous six months suggested that the company held an average ending inventory of a??2.1 million worth of fuel products to maintain average daily sales of a??0.52 million. The challenge was to reduce the inventory levels, while maintaining a high customer service level in fuel sales. The authors Saurabh Chandra, Aditya Agarwal, and Sanjay C. Choudhari are affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Indore.

Authors :: Saurabh Chandra, Aditya Agarwal, Sanjay Choudhari

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Operations management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management" written by Saurabh Chandra, Aditya Agarwal, Sanjay Choudhari includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fuel Inventory facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fuel Inventory, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fuel Inventory 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fuel Inventory
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 Fuel Inventory




Strengths Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Fuel Inventory in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management Harvard Business Review case study are -

Organizational Resilience of Fuel Inventory

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Fuel Inventory is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Learning organization

- Fuel Inventory 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 Fuel Inventory is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Fuel Inventory 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.

Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fuel Inventory digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fuel Inventory 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.

Analytics focus

– Fuel Inventory 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 Saurabh Chandra, Aditya Agarwal, Sanjay Choudhari 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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

– Fuel Inventory has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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.

High brand equity

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Fuel Inventory 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Fuel Inventory is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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

– Fuel Inventory 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.






Weaknesses Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Saurabh Chandra, Aditya Agarwal, Sanjay Choudhari suggests that, Fuel Inventory 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Fuel Inventory 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 decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fuel Inventory 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. Fuel Inventory 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Fuel Inventory 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Fuel Inventory is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Fuel Inventory needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fuel Inventory 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Fuel Inventory has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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 Fuel Inventory supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Fuel Inventory vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fuel Inventory is planning to shift buying processes online.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management, it seems that the employees of Fuel Inventory 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management, in the dynamic environment Fuel Inventory has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Fuel Inventory has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management, is just above the industry average. Fuel Inventory 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.




Opportunities Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management | 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management are -

Buying journey improvements

– Fuel Inventory can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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.

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. Fuel Inventory 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. Fuel Inventory 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 Fuel Inventory 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 Fuel Inventory to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fuel Inventory 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fuel Inventory 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Fuel Inventory 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fuel Inventory 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Fuel Inventory can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

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 Fuel Inventory 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fuel Inventory is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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. Fuel Inventory 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 Fuel Inventory has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fuel Inventory to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management case study. Fuel Inventory can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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 Fuel Inventory in the consumer business. Now Fuel Inventory can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.




Threats Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fuel Inventory with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management, Fuel Inventory 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 .

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Fuel Inventory 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.

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. Fuel Inventory 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.

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.

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. Fuel Inventory needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

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

Increasing wage structure of Fuel Inventory

– 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 Fuel Inventory.

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 Fuel Inventory.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Fuel Inventory 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.

Environmental challenges

– Fuel Inventory 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. Fuel Inventory can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

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




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Agarwal Automobiles: Fuel Station Forecasting and Inventory Management 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 Fuel Inventory needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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