QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy
QualityKiosk Technologies Private Limited (QualityKiosk) was an information technology company providing software application testing and quality assurance services to banks and insurance companies in India. In 2015, QualityKiosk had over 70 per cent penetration in the insurance sector in terms of numbers of customers, and only 30 per cent penetration in the banking sector. Anuroop Krishna, head of QualityKiosk's banking vertical, must put together a coherent sales strategy for 2016-17, and present his recommendations to QualityKiosk's chief executive officer. Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan is affiliated with NMIMS University.
Swot Analysis of "QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy" written by Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan, Anuroop Krishna includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sales and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's
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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's
Strengths QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's in QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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.
Analytics focus
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan, Anuroop Krishna 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
High brand equity
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
Organizational Resilience of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy 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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's, firm in the HBR case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy, is just above the industry average. Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan, Anuroop Krishna suggests that, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy 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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy are -
Loyalty marketing
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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, QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's in the consumer business. Now Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy 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.
Threats QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy .
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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales Strategy, Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's.
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. Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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.
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.
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. Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 QualityKiosk: Drawing Up a Sales 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 Qualitykiosk Qualitykiosk's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.