GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B)
Case B describes the digital transformation process GroupM India undertook from 2013 to 2016. To respond to the challenges highlighted in Case A - product, profile, partnerships and people - the company identified customer focus and nimbleness as two "quests" to prioritize. GroupM focused on building comprehensive media solutions, targeting new-economy customers (such as e-commerce and digital companies), forging new partnerships with creative and ad tech players and, most importantly, leveraging its people. By end-2016, GroupM had not only retained its position as the largest player in the Indian advertising industry but had also widened its lead over competitors.
Swot Analysis of "GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B)" written by Anand Narasimhan, Ivy Buche includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Groupm Digital facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Developing employees, Disruptive innovation, Joint ventures, Leadership, Marketing, Project management, Strategic planning, Talent management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Groupm Digital, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Groupm Digital 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Groupm Digital
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Groupm Digital
Strengths GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Groupm Digital in GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Groupm Digital 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)
– Groupm Digital 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Groupm Digital 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 Groupm Digital is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Groupm Digital has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Groupm Digital 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
– Groupm Digital 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Groupm Digital 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 Anand Narasimhan, Ivy Buche 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 recruit top talent
– Groupm Digital is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Groupm Digital has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Groupm Digital to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Groupm Digital in the sector have low bargaining power. GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Groupm Digital to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Groupm Digital
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Groupm Digital 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 Organizational Development industry
– GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Groupm Digital to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Groupm Digital to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Groupm Digital in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Groupm Digital, firm in the HBR case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 Groupm Digital has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Groupm Digital 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Groupm Digital has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Groupm Digital even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Groupm Digital is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Groupm Digital needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Groupm Digital to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), it seems that the employees of Groupm Digital 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), in the dynamic environment Groupm Digital has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Groupm Digital has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Groupm Digital supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Groupm Digital vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), is just above the industry average. Groupm Digital 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Groupm Digital has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Opportunities GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) | 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Groupm Digital 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Groupm Digital to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Groupm Digital can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Groupm Digital can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Groupm Digital operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Groupm Digital 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 Groupm Digital to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Groupm Digital in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Groupm Digital 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Groupm Digital 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
– Groupm Digital can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Groupm Digital has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Groupm Digital 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. Groupm Digital 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Groupm Digital 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, GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Groupm Digital to increase its market reach. Groupm Digital 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Groupm Digital can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) are -
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 Groupm Digital in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Groupm Digital 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Groupm Digital with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Groupm Digital 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.
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 Groupm Digital.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Groupm Digital is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Groupm Digital 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. Groupm Digital can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Groupm Digital 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.
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. Groupm Digital 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B), Groupm Digital may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Groupm Digital 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Groupm Digital 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 GroupM India: The Human Dimension of Digital Transformation (B) 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 Groupm Digital needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
