SMRT: Getting Back on Track SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SMRT: Getting Back on Track
On July 7, 2015, a power fault during the evening commute led to a system-wide disruption on SMRT, Singapore's heavily used mass rapid transit lines. Train service on both lines was shut down for more than two hours, affecting more than 413,000 commuters. The public was outraged at the scale of the breakdown and how ineffectively it was handled. Detailed investigations revealed the breakdown to be a result of maintenance lapses, and SMRT was criticized for its failure to provide clear and timely information and instructions to passengers. Following the breakdown, the company embarked on a service recovery process encompassing various new initiatives. This case illustrates the tensions SMRT faced during and after the breakdown, and its journey to recover the public's confidence in is transit services. Thompson S.H. Teo is affiliated with National University of Singapore.
Authors :: Thompson SH Teo, Cherie Heng, Cheryl Lee, Zhuoran Liu
Swot Analysis of "SMRT: Getting Back on Track" written by Thompson SH Teo, Cherie Heng, Cheryl Lee, Zhuoran Liu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Smrt Breakdown facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SMRT: Getting Back on Track case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SMRT: Getting Back on Track casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SMRT: Getting Back on Track
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SMRT: Getting Back on Track case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Smrt Breakdown, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Smrt Breakdown 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SMRT: Getting Back on Track case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Smrt Breakdown
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Smrt Breakdown
Strengths SMRT: Getting Back on Track | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Smrt Breakdown in SMRT: Getting Back on Track Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– SMRT: Getting Back on Track firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Smrt Breakdown to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Smrt Breakdown to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Smrt Breakdown is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Smrt Breakdown
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Smrt Breakdown does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Smrt Breakdown has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Smrt Breakdown 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Smrt Breakdown 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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.
High brand equity
– Smrt Breakdown has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Smrt Breakdown to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Smrt Breakdown in the sector have low bargaining power. SMRT: Getting Back on Track has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Smrt Breakdown to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Smrt Breakdown 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 Thompson SH Teo, Cherie Heng, Cheryl Lee, Zhuoran Liu 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.
Learning organization
- Smrt Breakdown 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 Smrt Breakdown is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SMRT: Getting Back on Track Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Smrt Breakdown is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SMRT: Getting Back on Track Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Smrt Breakdown 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.
Weaknesses SMRT: Getting Back on Track | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 Smrt Breakdown supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - SMRT: Getting Back on Track, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Smrt Breakdown vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Smrt Breakdown is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Smrt Breakdown is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Smrt Breakdown, firm in the HBR case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Smrt Breakdown 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 Smrt Breakdown 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Smrt Breakdown 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Smrt Breakdown 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track, is just above the industry average. Smrt Breakdown 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track, in the dynamic environment Smrt Breakdown has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Smrt Breakdown has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SMRT: Getting Back on Track HBR case study mentions - Smrt Breakdown 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.
Opportunities SMRT: Getting Back on Track | 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Smrt Breakdown in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Smrt Breakdown in the consumer business. Now Smrt Breakdown can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Smrt Breakdown 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 Smrt Breakdown 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, Smrt Breakdown 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, SMRT: Getting Back on Track, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Smrt Breakdown can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Smrt Breakdown can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Smrt Breakdown can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Smrt Breakdown 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Smrt Breakdown to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Smrt Breakdown can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Smrt Breakdown has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Smrt Breakdown to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SMRT: Getting Back on Track case study. Smrt Breakdown can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Smrt Breakdown can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Smrt Breakdown 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Smrt Breakdown 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.
Threats SMRT: Getting Back on Track External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SMRT: Getting Back on Track are -
Regulatory challenges
– Smrt Breakdown 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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 Smrt Breakdown in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Smrt Breakdown 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Smrt Breakdown has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Smrt Breakdown needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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. Smrt Breakdown 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Smrt Breakdown is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Smrt Breakdown 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.
Environmental challenges
– Smrt Breakdown 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. Smrt Breakdown can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Smrt Breakdown in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Increasing wage structure of Smrt Breakdown
– 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 Smrt Breakdown.
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 Smrt Breakdown business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Smrt Breakdown 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 SMRT: Getting Back on Track 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 Smrt Breakdown needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
