Case Study Description of Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal
After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Chaudhary Group, a billion-dollar conglomerate in Nepal decides to play a pivotal role in re-building the country. The Group's philanthropic arm (Chaudhary Foundation) works with stakeholders and develops a blue print for short and long- term relief measures. The management needs to address several questions as they navigate the foundations' course. What element of relief work should the foundation focus on? Should they go beyond addressing the immediate need for shelters and adopt a more holistic development plan? How should they acquire technical expertise and organize themselves to successfully execute this effort? The case focuses on how businesses can drive entrepreneurship and disaster management efforts and be agents for social change in the emerging markets grappling with institutional voids. How should they work with the government in this endeavor? How do they ensure an alignment of these efforts to the group and foundation's long-term focus areas and objectives?
Authors :: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen, Inakshi Sobti
Topics :: Finance & Accounting
Tags :: Competitive strategy, Crisis management, Decision making, Economy, Emerging markets, Government, Innovation, Leadership, Leading teams, Networking, Organizational culture, Public relations, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Venture capital, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal" written by Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen, Inakshi Sobti includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chaudhary Nepal facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Crisis management, Decision making, Economy, Emerging markets, Government, Innovation, Leadership, Leading teams, Networking, Organizational culture, Public relations, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Venture capital and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chaudhary Nepal, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chaudhary Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chaudhary Nepal
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Chaudhary Nepal
Strengths Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chaudhary Nepal in Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Organizational Resilience of Chaudhary Nepal
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Chaudhary Nepal does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chaudhary Nepal to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chaudhary Nepal to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Chaudhary Nepal 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 Chaudhary Nepal in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Chaudhary Nepal 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 Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen, Inakshi Sobti 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Chaudhary Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Chaudhary Nepal has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Chaudhary Nepal in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Chaudhary Nepal is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chaudhary Nepal has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chaudhary Nepal 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.
High brand equity
– Chaudhary Nepal has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chaudhary Nepal to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Chaudhary Nepal is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal HBR case study mentions - Chaudhary Nepal 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Nepal has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Chaudhary Nepal supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Chaudhary Nepal vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Chaudhary Nepal, firm in the HBR case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chaudhary Nepal is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Chaudhary Nepal needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chaudhary Nepal to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chaudhary Nepal is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal, is just above the industry average. Chaudhary Nepal 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Nepal 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal | 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal are -
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 Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chaudhary Nepal 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 Chaudhary Nepal to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Chaudhary Nepal 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chaudhary Nepal to increase its market reach. Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chaudhary Nepal 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. Chaudhary Nepal can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Chaudhary Nepal can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Chaudhary Nepal in the consumer business. Now Chaudhary Nepal can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Chaudhary Nepal can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Chaudhary Nepal 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. Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Chaudhary Nepal can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal are -
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 Chaudhary Nepal in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Chaudhary Nepal 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.
Environmental challenges
– Chaudhary Nepal 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. Chaudhary Nepal can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Chaudhary Nepal 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.
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 wage structure of Chaudhary Nepal
– 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 Chaudhary Nepal.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chaudhary Nepal in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Chaudhary Nepal 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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Chaudhary Nepal needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Chaudhary Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal, Chaudhary Nepal may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Chaudhary Nepal with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal 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 Chaudhary Nepal needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
