Swot Analysis of "Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy?" written by Aldo Musacchio, Tarun Khanna, Rachna Tahilyani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Color.you Railways facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Strategy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? casestudy better are - – technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Color.you Railways, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Color.you Railways 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Color.you Railways
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 Color.you Railways
Strengths Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Color.you Railways in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Color.you Railways has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Color.you Railways to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Color.you Railways has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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.
Learning organization
- Color.you Railways 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 Color.you Railways is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Color.you Railways is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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
– Color.you Railways is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Color.you Railways has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Color.you Railways 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Color.you Railways to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Color.you Railways to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Color.you Railways
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Color.you Railways does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Color.you Railways 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Color.you Railways is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Color.you Railways in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Color.you Railways is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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.
Weaknesses Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Color.you Railways 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Color.you Railways is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Color.you Railways 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Color.you Railways is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? HBR case study mentions - Color.you Railways 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy?, 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.
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 Color.you Railways supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Color.you Railways vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Aldo Musacchio, Tarun Khanna, Rachna Tahilyani suggests that, Color.you Railways 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Color.you Railways products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Color.you Railways needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Color.you Railways 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 - Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy?, it seems that the employees of Color.you Railways 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.
Opportunities Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? | 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? are -
Manufacturing automation
– Color.you Railways 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Color.you Railways 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Color.you Railways to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Color.you Railways can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Color.you Railways 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Color.you Railways 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Color.you Railways 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Color.you Railways can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Color.you Railways operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Color.you Railways 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Color.you Railways has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Color.you Railways to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? case study. Color.you Railways can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Color.you Railways can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Color.you Railways 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Color.you Railways 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Color.you Railways to increase its market reach. Color.you Railways 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.
Threats Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? are -
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 Color.you Railways.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Color.you Railways with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Color.you Railways 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
– Color.you Railways 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 Global Business industry regulations.
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.
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. Color.you Railways needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Color.you Railways has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Color.you Railways 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Color.you Railways 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Color.you Railways 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Color.you Railways 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.
Environmental challenges
– Color.you Railways 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. Color.you Railways can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Increasing wage structure of Color.you Railways
– 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 Color.you Railways.
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. Color.you Railways can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Indian Railways: Building a Permanent Legacy? 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 Color.you Railways needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
