Case Study Description of Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence
In September 2015, Bartos Stainless Limited, an Indian steel-producing company that emerged as a strong brand in the mid-2000s, was facing a series of internal and external challenges: challenges from frequent changes at the chief-executive-officer level, fluctuating metal prices, the global slowdown of the steel industry, increasing competition from imports, and diminished investor confidence. The managing director needed to address these challenges and manage the risks of his business model, while maintaining profits. Sushant Kumar is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Shillong. Rohit Dwivedi is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Shillong.
Swot Analysis of "Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence" written by Sushant Kumar, Rohit Dwivedi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bartos Shillong facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Strategy, Supply chain, Talent management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bartos Shillong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bartos Shillong
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bartos Shillong
Strengths Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bartos Shillong in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Bartos Shillong is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Shillong is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bartos Shillong is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bartos Shillong 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Bartos Shillong
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bartos Shillong does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bartos Shillong in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bartos Shillong digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bartos Shillong 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.
High brand equity
– Bartos Shillong has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bartos Shillong to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Bartos Shillong 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 Sushant Kumar, Rohit Dwivedi 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bartos Shillong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bartos Shillong 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.
Weaknesses Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Shillong has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bartos Shillong 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence, it seems that the employees of Bartos Shillong don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bartos Shillong products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bartos Shillong needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bartos Shillong 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sushant Kumar, Rohit Dwivedi suggests that, Bartos Shillong 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bartos Shillong is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence, is just above the industry average. Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence, in the dynamic environment Bartos Shillong has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bartos Shillong has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bartos Shillong is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Bartos Shillong needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bartos Shillong to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Shillong 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence | 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence are -
Manufacturing automation
– Bartos Shillong can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bartos Shillong is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bartos Shillong 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bartos Shillong can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bartos Shillong 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Bartos Shillong can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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.
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. Bartos Shillong can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bartos Shillong to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bartos Shillong can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bartos Shillong 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
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 Bartos Shillong in the consumer business. Now Bartos Shillong can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bartos Shillong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bartos Shillong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bartos Shillong 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, Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Shillong in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Bartos Shillong business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Bartos Shillong
– 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 Bartos Shillong.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bartos Shillong in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bartos Shillong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bartos Shillong needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bartos Shillong is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bartos Shillong can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bartos Shillong 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bartos Shillong 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence .
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. Bartos Shillong 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bartos Shillong 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Stainless Limited: Facing Turbulence 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 Bartos Shillong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.