Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal
Emerging markets are challenging and require special expertise. India in particular is known to be a tricky business environment. The case follows two senior executives from Alvarez & Marsal's India practice as they deal with an urgent request from one of their US private equity clients, Sapphire Capital. A former employee is claiming that irregular activities by senior management are at the root of the company's financial difficulties. The turnaround team needs to act quickly yet must tread carefully in case the accusations prove unfounded. The second part of the case describes how the A&M team deals with the situation and the action they take to restore and restructure the ailing Indian company.
Authors :: Sankar Krishnan, Claudia Zeisberger, Anne-Marie Carrick, Nikhil Shah
Swot Analysis of "Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal" written by Sankar Krishnan, Claudia Zeisberger, Anne-Marie Carrick, Nikhil Shah includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Alvarez Marsal facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Crisis management, Emerging markets, Ethics and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Alvarez Marsal, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Alvarez Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Alvarez Marsal
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Alvarez Marsal
Strengths Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Alvarez Marsal in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Alvarez Marsal has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Alvarez Marsal to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Alvarez Marsal in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Alvarez Marsal digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Alvarez Marsal 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.
Learning organization
- Alvarez Marsal 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 Alvarez Marsal is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Alvarez Marsal 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Alvarez Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Alvarez Marsal in the sector have low bargaining power. Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Alvarez Marsal to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Alvarez Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Alvarez Marsal has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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.
Organizational Resilience of Alvarez Marsal
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Alvarez Marsal does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Alvarez Marsal is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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
– Alvarez Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Alvarez Marsal 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 - Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal HBR case study mentions - Alvarez Marsal 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, Alvarez Marsal 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Alvarez Marsal 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Alvarez Marsal 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. Alvarez Marsal 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Alvarez Marsal 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, Alvarez Marsal is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Alvarez Marsal products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Alvarez Marsal needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Alvarez Marsal supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Alvarez Marsal vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal, it seems that the employees of Alvarez Marsal 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Alvarez Marsal 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.
Opportunities Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal | 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal are -
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 Alvarez Marsal 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Alvarez Marsal 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Alvarez Marsal 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, Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Alvarez Marsal 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Alvarez Marsal can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Alvarez Marsal operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Alvarez Marsal is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Alvarez Marsal can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Alvarez Marsal can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Alvarez Marsal 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.
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 Alvarez Marsal in the consumer business. Now Alvarez Marsal can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Alvarez Marsal can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Alvarez Marsal has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Alvarez Marsal to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal case study. Alvarez Marsal can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Alvarez Marsal 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.
Threats Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal are -
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 Alvarez Marsal business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Alvarez Marsal in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal, Alvarez Marsal may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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. Alvarez Marsal needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Alvarez Marsal is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Alvarez Marsal 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Alvarez Marsal 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
– Alvarez Marsal 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.
Environmental challenges
– Alvarez Marsal 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. Alvarez Marsal can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Alvarez Marsal can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Alvarez Marsal.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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 Crisis at the Mill: Weaving an Indian Turnaround - Alvarez & Marsal 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 Alvarez Marsal needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
