A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B)
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 as a midnight strategy session at Nokia's Indian headquarters to chart out 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 used the situation it to create new organizational capabilities.
Swot Analysis of "A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B)" written by Charles Dhanaraj, 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 (B) 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 (B) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B)
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 (B) 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 (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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 (B) | 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 (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Nokia Defective 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 Nokia Defective in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nokia Defective is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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.
Analytics focus
– Nokia Defective is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Charles Dhanaraj, Hima Bindu can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
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 (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nokia Defective 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
- Nokia Defective 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 Nokia Defective is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, 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 (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) | 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 (B) are -
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 (B), 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nokia Defective 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 - A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nokia Defective products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nokia Defective needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B), in the dynamic environment Nokia Defective has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nokia Defective has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nokia Defective 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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 (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nokia Defective is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Charles Dhanaraj, 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.
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.
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.
Opportunities A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) | 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 (B) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nokia Defective 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 A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nokia Defective 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. 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nokia Defective can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Nokia Defective 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. Nokia Defective 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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nokia Defective is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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.
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.
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nokia Defective has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nokia Defective to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) case study. Nokia Defective can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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.
Threats A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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 (B) 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 Nokia Defective.
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.
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.
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 (B), 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Nokia Defective
– 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 Nokia Defective.
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 Nokia Defective business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 (B) .
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.
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. Nokia Defective needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Nokia Defective 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Bomb in Your Pocket? Crisis Leadership at Nokia India (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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.