Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers
Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited (Kaira Union), a member union of the popular dairy brand Amul, was using information technology (IT)-enabled services to benefit individual dairy farmers with very small herd sizes in India. The technical inputs, such as veterinary services, were provided through veterinary centres located near clusters of villages. To improve service delivery, better manage inventory, deploy veterinarians, and manage their routes, the union had established a centralized veterinary call centre staffed at all hours of the day. The call centre had resulted in considerable savings in the cost of service and improved the efficiency of service delivery. The managing director of Kaira Union wanted to extend the call centre to include the union's operations in the states of Maharashtra and West Bengal. However, he was not sure whether the current architecture was capable of facing the challenge. Kaira Union needed to develop a proposal for the expansion. Harekrishna Misra is affiliated with Institute of Rural Management. S. R. Asokan is affiliated with Institute of Rural Management.
Swot Analysis of "Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers" written by Harekrishna Misra, S.R. Asokan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kaira Union facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kaira Union, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kaira Union 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kaira Union
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 Kaira Union
Strengths Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kaira Union in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kaira Union 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.
Organizational Resilience of Kaira Union
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Kaira Union does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kaira Union is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Kaira Union 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 Kaira Union is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Kaira Union is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Kaira Union 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 Kaira Union in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kaira Union 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kaira Union 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kaira Union to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kaira Union to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Kaira Union has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kaira Union to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Kaira Union is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kaira Union digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kaira Union 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.
Weaknesses Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Harekrishna Misra, S.R. Asokan suggests that, Kaira Union is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers HBR case study mentions - Kaira Union 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kaira Union is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Kaira Union 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kaira Union 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kaira Union 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. Kaira Union 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 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 Kaira Union supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kaira Union vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kaira Union 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 - Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Kaira Union 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kaira Union is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers | 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kaira Union 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.
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. Kaira Union can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kaira Union 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 Kaira Union to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Kaira Union can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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
– Kaira Union 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kaira Union can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kaira Union 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kaira Union to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Kaira Union in the consumer business. Now Kaira Union can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kaira Union is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kaira Union to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kaira Union to increase its market reach. Kaira Union 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.
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. Kaira Union 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. Kaira Union 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. Kaira Union can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Kaira Union with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Kaira Union
– 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 Kaira Union.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Kaira Union business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kaira Union has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kaira Union 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.
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. Kaira Union can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers, Kaira Union 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 .
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 Kaira Union.
Environmental challenges
– Kaira Union 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. Kaira Union can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kaira Union 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kaira Union 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Kaira Union 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kaira Union is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Amul's IT-Enabled Service Delivery to Dairy Farmers 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 Kaira Union needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.