Kalpana Sankar, was working with community-based initiatives, using a five-pillar approach. The approach is an intricate interconnection between a problem and its connection with the society. One of the pillars is provision of financial services to augment livelihoods. As she moves ahead, the financial services grow faster than other pillars. The ecosystem for inclusive finance has also changed; other initiatives dictate the rules of the game. Kalpana's path is of development with community involvement and ownership. This militates against rapid growth. The case explores the dilemma of ideology lead inclusive initiative stagnating, with growth opportunities appearing in a market based model. So, is it the ideology-mission model or a market-led model?
Swot Analysis of "Belstar India Finance" written by M. S. Sriram includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ideology Pillars facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Belstar India Finance case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial finance, Financial management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Belstar India Finance casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing,
geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Belstar India Finance
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Belstar India Finance case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ideology Pillars, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ideology Pillars 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 Belstar India Finance can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Belstar India Finance case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ideology Pillars
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 Ideology Pillars
Strengths Belstar India Finance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ideology Pillars in Belstar India Finance Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Belstar India Finance firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ideology Pillars to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ideology Pillars to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ideology Pillars in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ideology Pillars 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ideology Pillars is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Belstar India Finance are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Ideology Pillars 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 Ideology Pillars in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Ideology Pillars has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Belstar India Finance 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ideology Pillars
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ideology Pillars does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ideology Pillars 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 Belstar India Finance - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ideology Pillars in the sector have low bargaining power. Belstar India Finance has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ideology Pillars to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ideology Pillars digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ideology Pillars 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ideology Pillars is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Belstar India Finance 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Ideology Pillars is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Belstar India Finance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Belstar India Finance are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, M. S. Sriram suggests that, Ideology Pillars 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ideology Pillars is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Belstar India Finance can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Belstar India Finance, it seems that the employees of Ideology Pillars 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ideology Pillars 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 - Belstar India Finance should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ideology Pillars 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Belstar India Finance HBR case study mentions - Ideology Pillars 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Ideology Pillars has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ideology Pillars, firm in the HBR case study Belstar India Finance needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ideology Pillars 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Belstar India Finance 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 Ideology Pillars has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Belstar India Finance 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 Ideology Pillars 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Belstar India Finance | 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 Belstar India Finance are -
Loyalty marketing
– Ideology Pillars 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 Ideology Pillars 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ideology Pillars has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ideology Pillars to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Belstar India Finance case study. Ideology Pillars can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Ideology Pillars can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ideology Pillars 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, Belstar India Finance, 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 Ideology Pillars can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ideology Pillars 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ideology Pillars to increase its market reach. Ideology Pillars 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ideology Pillars 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 Organizational Development segment.
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 Ideology Pillars 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 Ideology Pillars 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 Ideology Pillars to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Ideology Pillars in the consumer business. Now Ideology Pillars can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ideology Pillars is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Belstar India Finance 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.
Threats Belstar India Finance External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Belstar India Finance are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ideology Pillars 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.
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 Ideology Pillars in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ideology Pillars 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. Ideology Pillars needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ideology Pillars 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.
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 Ideology Pillars business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Ideology Pillars 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. Ideology Pillars can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ideology Pillars 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 wage structure of Ideology Pillars
– 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 Ideology Pillars.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Belstar India Finance, Ideology Pillars 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ideology Pillars 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 Belstar India Finance .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ideology Pillars is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Belstar India Finance 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 Belstar India Finance 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 Belstar India Finance 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 Belstar India Finance 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 Belstar India Finance 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 Ideology Pillars needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.