Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide
This case introduces the readers to information regarding the organization building journey of Ather Energy, an Indian start-up in the electric vehicle (EV) industry and the entrepreneurial journey of its founders. The case deals with challenges that Ather Energy faces as it works to bring its product, a two-wheeler EV, to market, adopting practices that were against the established industry norms (the internal combustion engine vehicles). The case outlines the overall environment of the EV industry across the world and in India, discussing key areas like government interventions, major existing players in the EV industry and key developments that have transpired over the past years. It then traces the journey of Ather Energy and its founders, focusing on the key phases through which it traversed as it grew from a two-membered start-up basis out of an incubator to a 350+ firm working to ensure that their product has a hassle-free entry into the market. The case outlines the background of the founders, their learnings on the course of developing their product, and the challenges faced in various stages of developing the product. The envisaged sustainability of Ather Energy and its product are then discussed, along with the challenges envisaged.
Swot Analysis of "Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide" written by Anshuman Tripathy, Amey Sahasrabuddhe, Indrasis Bose includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ather Ev facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational structure and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ather Ev, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ather Ev 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ather Ev
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 Ather Ev
Strengths Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ather Ev in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Ather Ev 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 Ather Ev in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ather Ev is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Ather Ev has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ather Ev is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ather Ev digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ather Ev 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ather Ev in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Ather Ev has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ather Ev to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ather Ev 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Ather Ev is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Ather Ev is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Ev 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.
Learning organization
- Ather Ev 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 Ather Ev is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide HBR case study mentions - Ather Ev 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ather Ev 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. Ather Ev 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ather Ev 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ather Ev 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ather Ev is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ather Ev products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ather Ev needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Ather Ev supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ather Ev vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ather Ev, firm in the HBR case study Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ather Ev 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ather Ev has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ather Ev is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Ather Ev needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ather Ev to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide | 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Ev 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ather Ev 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ather Ev can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ather Ev can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ather Ev 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, Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ather Ev can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ather Ev 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ather Ev 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 Ather Ev to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ather Ev 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. Ather Ev 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ather Ev 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ather Ev 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ather Ev 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ather Ev 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.
Threats Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide are -
Environmental challenges
– Ather Ev 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. Ather Ev can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ather Ev with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Ather Ev needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Ather Ev in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Ather Ev 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.
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.
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.
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. Ather Ev 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 Ather Ev is facing in Technology & Operations 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 Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ather Ev can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Ather Ev.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ather Ev 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide .
Increasing wage structure of Ather Ev
– 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 Ather Ev.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Energy: Riding the Electric Vehicle Tide 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 Ather Ev needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.