Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India
In July 2014, the head of Data Sciences Lab, the technical division of Housing.com, an online realty company based in Mumbai, India, is wondering whether the company has truly revolutionized the housing search process. The Indian real estate market is extremely unorganized, fragmented and suffering from lack of clear information. Any facts about properties for sale or rent primarily rest with brokers, who not only often charge exorbitant fees from the buyer as well as the seller but also commonly misrepresent the location and condition of the property in question, making finding a place to live a very frustrating experience. Founded in 2012, Housing.com is a relatively new entrant to this market and is using a data-driven approach to attract customers by providing accurate intelligence, using photographs and a map-based user interface to display all its listings on the Internet. Recently, the company started scaling up its operations by leveraging the power of quality, technology, innovation and speed, with impressive results. Will this strategy help Housing.com capture an even bigger portion of the market? Will competitors in the online property space be able to imitate its business innovations easily? More importantly, what future products should Housing.com offer? Deepa Ray is affiliated with SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
Swot Analysis of "Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India" written by Deepa Ray, Nitin Sangwan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Housing.com Search facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Housing.com Search, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Housing.com Search 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Housing.com Search
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 Housing.com Search
Strengths Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Housing.com Search in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Housing.com Search 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 Deepa Ray, Nitin Sangwan 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
– Housing.com Search is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Housing.com Search 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Housing.com Search in the sector have low bargaining power. Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Housing.com Search to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Housing.com Search is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Housing.com Search 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.
Training and development
– Housing.com Search has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Housing.com Search to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Housing.com Search to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Housing.com Search has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Housing.com Search 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Housing.com Search in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Housing.com Search
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Housing.com Search does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Housing.com Search 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India - 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Housing.com Search is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India, is just above the industry average. Housing.com Search needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Need for greater diversity
– Housing.com Search 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Housing.com Search is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Housing.com Search needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Housing.com Search to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Housing.com Search has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Housing.com Search 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. Housing.com Search 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Housing.com Search 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.
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 Housing.com Search supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Housing.com Search vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Housing.com Search 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Deepa Ray, Nitin Sangwan suggests that, Housing.com Search 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India, it seems that the employees of Housing.com Search 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India | 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India are -
Buying journey improvements
– Housing.com Search can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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.
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 Housing.com Search in the consumer business. Now Housing.com Search can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Housing.com Search has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Housing.com Search to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India case study. Housing.com Search can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Housing.com Search to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Housing.com Search in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Housing.com Search 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Housing.com Search 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 Housing.com Search to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Housing.com Search 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Housing.com Search 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. Housing.com Search 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Housing.com Search 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Housing.com Search to increase its market reach. Housing.com Search 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Housing.com Search 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, Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India, 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 Housing.com Search 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.
Threats Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India are -
Environmental challenges
– Housing.com Search 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. Housing.com Search can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Increasing wage structure of Housing.com Search
– 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 Housing.com Search.
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. Housing.com Search can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Housing.com Search 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Housing.com Search is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Housing.com Search needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India, Housing.com Search 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Housing.com Search 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Housing.com Search 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.
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 Housing.com Search business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Housing.com Search has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Housing.com Search needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com: Disrupting the House Search Process in India 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 Housing.com Search needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.