A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A)
This case addresses the theme of crisis leadership in a multinational enterprise in a powerful way, to help students internalize the critical challenges of a multinational company in an emerging market. In August 2007, a routine product feedback and defect analysis process identified a defective batch of batteries supplied by a Japanese vendor, Matsushita. India happened to be the recipient of the largest proportion of the defective batch. Nokia's corporate communications team, based in Finland, in cooperation with the Indian team, responded with a customary global product advisory. Instructions were made available on the Internet for customers to diagnose a defective battery and get a free replacement. Nokia was shocked to see the antagonistic response from the Indian press to the product advisory and the ensuing mayhem that spread quickly through the country. The head of Nokia India and his team had to act swiftly to preserve the company's hard-earned reputation and market share.Case A is set at a midnight strategy session at Nokia's Indian headquarters to chart the way forward. Case B is a short version of what actually happened: how Nokia and the team successfully steered the organization through the crisis and not only survived but also used the situation to create new organizational capabilities.
Authors :: Charles Dhanaraj, Monidipa Mukherjee, Hima Bindu
Swot Analysis of "A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A)" written by Charles Dhanaraj, Monidipa Mukherjee, Hima Bindu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nokia Defective facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nokia Defective, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nokia Defective
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 Nokia Defective
Strengths A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nokia Defective in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nokia Defective in the sector have low bargaining power. A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nokia Defective to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nokia Defective has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nokia Defective has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Innovation driven organization
– Nokia Defective is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Nokia Defective has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nokia Defective 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.
High brand equity
– Nokia Defective has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nokia Defective to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nokia Defective is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nokia Defective to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nokia Defective to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Nokia Defective
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nokia Defective does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nokia Defective is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Nokia Defective supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nokia Defective vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A), is just above the industry average. Nokia Defective needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nokia Defective is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Nokia Defective needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nokia Defective to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Charles Dhanaraj, Monidipa Mukherjee, Hima Bindu suggests that, Nokia Defective 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nokia Defective 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nokia Defective 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nokia Defective 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) HBR case study mentions - Nokia Defective 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nokia Defective 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 Nokia Defective 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) | 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) are -
Buying journey improvements
– Nokia Defective can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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. Nokia Defective can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nokia Defective to increase its market reach. Nokia Defective 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nokia Defective can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nokia Defective operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Nokia Defective 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nokia Defective can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
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 Nokia Defective in the consumer business. Now Nokia Defective can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Nokia Defective can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nokia Defective 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nokia Defective 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.
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 Nokia Defective 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nokia Defective 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, Nokia Defective 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, A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) are -
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 Nokia Defective in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nokia Defective can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nokia Defective 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A), Nokia Defective 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nokia Defective 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. Nokia Defective 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nokia Defective 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.
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 Nokia Defective 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nokia Defective has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nokia Defective 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.
Environmental challenges
– Nokia Defective 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. Nokia Defective can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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 Nokia Defective.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (A) 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 Nokia Defective needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.