Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India
Potatoes are grown across 130 countries and form the largest non-cereal food crop consumed in large per-capita measures in some of the Eastern European and South American countries. India is the world's third-largest producer of the crop and is estimated to consume about 25 million tonnes each year. Calcutta-based Sumangal Industries Limited launched a high yield investment program under the banner of the Flexi-Potato Purchase Scheme. Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), took exception to the company's collecting uncollateralized deposits from the members of the public without due registration, and issued prohibitive orders.This case puts the facts underlying the offering in perspective and conducts a micro-economic analysis to assess the strengths of the business proposition. The statistical analyses reveal that the volatility and predictability of seasonal pricing patterns that the company seeks to exploit may not continue beyond the short-term. Further, the early success of the scheme is likely to attract entry into the segment, thereby squeezing arbitrage margins and enhancing business process costs. This case also lays out facts relating to exogenous influences on the local potato market and encourages policy makers to adequately inform potential investors as a means to empower them to make sound resource allocation decisions. The conclusions of the case could be applied beyond West Bengal, and beyond India, to other agricultural produce and pyramidal investment schemes, qualified by local conditions.
Swot Analysis of "Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India" written by Srinivasan Sunderasan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Potato Crop facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Potato Crop, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Potato Crop
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Potato Crop
Strengths Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Potato Crop in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Potato Crop is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Potato Crop to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Potato Crop to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Potato Crop 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 Potato Crop in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Potato Crop has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Potato Crop to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Potato Crop in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Potato Crop 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 Srinivasan Sunderasan 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Potato Crop in the sector have low bargaining power. Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Potato Crop to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Potato Crop is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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.
Learning organization
- Potato Crop 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 Potato Crop is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Potato Crop 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Potato Crop has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Potato Crop 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India, it seems that the employees of Potato Crop 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Srinivasan Sunderasan suggests that, Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Potato Crop is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Potato Crop, firm in the HBR case study Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Potato Crop products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Potato Crop needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Potato Crop 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. Potato Crop 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Potato Crop 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Potato Crop 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.
Opportunities Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India | 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Potato Crop is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Potato Crop to increase its market reach. Potato Crop 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Potato Crop 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 Potato Crop to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Potato Crop can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Potato Crop can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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. Potato Crop can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Potato Crop can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Potato Crop in the consumer business. Now Potato Crop can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Potato Crop in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Potato Crop can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Potato Crop to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Potato Crop 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 Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Potato Crop 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. Potato Crop 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.
Threats Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India are -
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.
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.
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 Potato Crop.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Potato Crop has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Potato Crop needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Potato Crop 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Potato Crop 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Potato Crop with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Potato Crop is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Potato Crop needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Potato Crop can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Potato Crop 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Potato Crop 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.
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. Potato Crop 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India 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 Potato Crop needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Regulating Collective Investment Schemes Targeting Agricultural Commodities in India
