Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy
Finolex Industries Limited was India's largest rigid PVC pipes and fittings manufacturer and the second largest PVC resin manufacturer. It was a family-led enterprise with a long history of philanthropy. The Mukul Madhav Foundation was the charitable arm of the company, and it's functioning needed to be streamlined while considering the resources, timelines, and strategies required to meet its obligations. A strategic framework had to be applied so that Finolex Industries Limited and the Mukul Madhav Foundation could work together on a long-term basis on projects that benefitted the society as well as the organization. Utkarsh Majmudar is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Udaipur.
Swot Analysis of "Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy" written by Utkarsh Majmudar, Namrata Rana includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Finolex Mukul facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Finolex Mukul, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Finolex Mukul
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Finolex Mukul
Strengths Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Finolex Mukul in Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Finolex Mukul
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Finolex Mukul does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex Mukul 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Finolex Mukul is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Finolex Mukul is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Finolex Mukul to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Finolex Mukul to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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
– Finolex Mukul 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 Utkarsh Majmudar, Namrata Rana 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Finolex Mukul digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Finolex Mukul 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.
Weaknesses Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Finolex Mukul, firm in the HBR case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, is just above the industry average. Finolex Mukul 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Finolex Mukul has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Finolex Mukul 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy HBR case study mentions - Finolex Mukul 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Finolex Mukul 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Finolex Mukul is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, in the dynamic environment Finolex Mukul has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Finolex Mukul has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, it seems that the employees of Finolex Mukul 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.
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 Finolex Mukul supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Finolex Mukul vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy | 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Finolex Mukul to increase its market reach. Finolex Mukul 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, Finolex Mukul is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex Mukul to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Finolex Mukul 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. Finolex Mukul 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.
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 Finolex Mukul 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Finolex Mukul can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Finolex Mukul operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Finolex Mukul 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.
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. Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex Mukul has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Finolex Mukul to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy case study. Finolex Mukul can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Finolex Mukul 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Finolex Mukul 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Finolex Mukul 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Finolex Mukul can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy are -
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Finolex Mukul in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Finolex Mukul 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
– Finolex Mukul 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Finolex Mukul needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, Finolex Mukul may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Increasing wage structure of Finolex Mukul
– 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 Finolex Mukul.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Finolex Mukul 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Finolex Mukul is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Finolex Mukul in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Finolex Mukul 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.
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. Finolex Mukul 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex: Developing an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy 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 Finolex Mukul needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.