The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround
In July 2016, India celebrated the 25th anniversary of its economic reforms, which were initiated in 1991 as a result of a severe fiscal deficit-driven balance of payments crisis. The reforms saw India gradually break free of a low annual growth rate of 3.0-3.5 per cent. In 2016, with a growth rate of 7.6 per cent, India emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world. The increases in the country's macroeconomic indicators in the past 25 years indicated a major turnaround. Were these positive macroeconomic indicators sufficiently sustainable? Should investors be confident about India's growth story in 2016? Tulsi Jayakumar is affiliated with SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.
Swot Analysis of "The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround" written by Tulsi Jayakumar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Macroeconomic Indicators facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, 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 commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing energy prices, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Macroeconomic Indicators, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Macroeconomic Indicators 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Macroeconomic Indicators
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 Macroeconomic Indicators
Strengths The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Macroeconomic Indicators in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Macroeconomic Indicators digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Training and development
– Macroeconomic Indicators has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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 Macroeconomic Indicators 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 Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Macroeconomic Indicators is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Macroeconomic Indicators is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Macroeconomic Indicators has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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 Tulsi Jayakumar 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Macroeconomic Indicators to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Macroeconomic Indicators to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Macroeconomic Indicators in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround are -
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 Macroeconomic Indicators supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Macroeconomic Indicators vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Macroeconomic Indicators products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Macroeconomic Indicators needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Macroeconomic Indicators 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 Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Tulsi Jayakumar suggests that, Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Macroeconomic Indicators 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Macroeconomic Indicators is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Macroeconomic Indicators needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Macroeconomic Indicators to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround, is just above the industry average. Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Macroeconomic Indicators is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround | 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround are -
Buying journey improvements
– Macroeconomic Indicators can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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.
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. Macroeconomic Indicators can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Macroeconomic Indicators can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Macroeconomic Indicators can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Macroeconomic Indicators 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, The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
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. Macroeconomic Indicators 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. Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Macroeconomic Indicators can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Macroeconomic Indicators has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Macroeconomic Indicators to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround case study. Macroeconomic Indicators can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Macroeconomic Indicators is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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.
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 Macroeconomic Indicators in the consumer business. Now Macroeconomic Indicators can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround are -
Increasing wage structure of Macroeconomic Indicators
– 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 Macroeconomic Indicators.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
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 Macroeconomic Indicators business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Macroeconomic Indicators 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround .
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. Macroeconomic Indicators 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround, Macroeconomic Indicators 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Macroeconomic Indicators 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. Macroeconomic Indicators can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Macroeconomic Indicators can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Macroeconomic Indicators in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Macroeconomic Indicators has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Macroeconomic Indicators needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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 The Indian Economy: A Macroeconomic Turnaround 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 Macroeconomic Indicators needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.