Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis
In 2014, the production manager at Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd., a diamond manufacturer and exporter in India, faced the challenge of maintaining his duty towards the company's employees while it experienced low growth and profitability after a downturn in the industry. High attrition among employees was a common problem across the industry; it cost the company heavily and had a significant impact on employees' morale. Recruiting strong employees and retaining them was a challenge, especially during a time of crisis. The production manager wanted to build on the initiatives of the chairman and founder and pursue a performance-based incentive system, value-added incentives, and other employee-friendly human resource policies. Could these strategies keep the attrition rate low and help the company create a high-performance work environment? Success could help Hari Krishna Exports in its plan to grow from a diamond manufacturer to a diamond jewelry retailer with a global reach. The authors Nitika Sharma and Archana Shrivastava are affiliated with Birla Institute of Management Technology.
Swot Analysis of "Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis" written by Nitika Sharma, Archana Shrivastava includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Diamond Hari facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Organizational structure and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Diamond Hari, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Diamond Hari
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Diamond Hari
Strengths Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Diamond Hari in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Diamond Hari in the sector have low bargaining power. Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Diamond Hari to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Diamond Hari digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Diamond Hari 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Diamond Hari has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Diamond Hari 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.
Training and development
– Diamond Hari has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Diamond Hari
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Diamond Hari does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Diamond Hari 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 Diamond Hari in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Diamond Hari 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Diamond Hari in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Diamond Hari is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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.
Weaknesses Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Diamond Hari, firm in the HBR case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Diamond Hari products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Diamond Hari needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Diamond Hari 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. Diamond Hari 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Diamond Hari 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 - Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Diamond Hari 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Diamond Hari 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis, in the dynamic environment Diamond Hari has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Diamond Hari has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Diamond Hari is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Diamond Hari 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis, it seems that the employees of Diamond Hari don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis | 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Diamond Hari 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Diamond Hari can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Diamond Hari to increase its market reach. Diamond Hari 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Diamond Hari can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Diamond Hari 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 Global Business segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Diamond Hari 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.
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 Diamond Hari in the consumer business. Now Diamond Hari can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Diamond Hari 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Diamond Hari can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Diamond Hari can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Diamond Hari in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Diamond Hari to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Diamond Hari 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. Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Diamond Hari 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Diamond Hari 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.
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.
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. Diamond Hari 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.
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 Diamond Hari in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Diamond Hari.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis, Diamond Hari may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Diamond Hari in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Diamond Hari has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Diamond Hari needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Increasing wage structure of Diamond Hari
– 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 Diamond Hari.
Regulatory challenges
– Diamond Hari 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 Global Business industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Diamond Hari 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Diamond Hari can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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 Hari Krishna Diamond Cutting: Retaining Talent in Times of Crisis 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 Diamond Hari needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.