Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan
Explores the challenges of female entrepreneurship in Afghanistan through the case of Kemeli Sediqi, who built a business under the Taliban, and founded a consultancy in 2004. The case positions Sediqi's experiences against the background of Afghanistan's turbulent history, with a focus on the contested role of women in Afghani society.
Authors :: Geoffrey G. Jones, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Swot Analysis of "Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan" written by Geoffrey G. Jones, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Afghanistan Female facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Social responsibility and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Afghanistan Female, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Afghanistan Female 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Afghanistan Female
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Afghanistan Female
Strengths Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Afghanistan Female in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Afghanistan Female 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Afghanistan Female 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 Afghanistan Female in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Afghanistan Female 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Afghanistan Female digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Afghanistan Female 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
– Afghanistan Female is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Afghanistan Female 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
- Afghanistan Female 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 Afghanistan Female is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Afghanistan Female 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Afghanistan Female is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Afghanistan Female is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Afghanistan Female to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Afghanistan Female to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Afghanistan Female is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Afghanistan Female 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. Afghanistan Female 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Afghanistan Female 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Afghanistan Female 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Afghanistan Female 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Afghanistan Female is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Afghanistan Female has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Afghanistan Female products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Afghanistan Female needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Afghanistan Female is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Afghanistan Female needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Afghanistan Female to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Geoffrey G. Jones, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon suggests that, Afghanistan Female 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.
Opportunities Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan | 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan are -
Buying journey improvements
– Afghanistan Female can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Afghanistan Female can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Afghanistan Female to increase its market reach. Afghanistan Female 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Afghanistan Female in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Afghanistan Female 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, Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Afghanistan Female 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Afghanistan Female can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Afghanistan Female 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 Global Business 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 Afghanistan Female 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Afghanistan Female 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. Afghanistan Female 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.
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. Afghanistan Female can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Afghanistan Female is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Afghanistan Female 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.
Threats Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Afghanistan Female 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Afghanistan Female has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Afghanistan Female needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Afghanistan Female 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan, Afghanistan Female may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Afghanistan Female in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing wage structure of Afghanistan Female
– 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 Afghanistan Female.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Afghanistan Female is facing in Global Business 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. Afghanistan Female needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Afghanistan Female 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. Afghanistan Female can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Afghanistan Female with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Afghanistan Female 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Kaweyan: Female Entrepreneurship and the Past and Future of Afghanistan 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 Afghanistan Female needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.