Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack
Achal Industries was a 40-year-old proprietary family enterprise engaged in cashew processing and export. Giridhar Prabhu, 57, was Achal's second generation entrepreneur and managed its operations in the Indian states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. He had been in this labor intensive business for close to three decades. Family owned businesses and private partnership firms dominated this sector. The cashew processing industry was facing severe constraints due to high employee turnover and a labor shortage. Many enterprises had started exploring the option of automating cashew processing at their factories. Giridhar had also been studying and analyzing this option. He anticipated that, five years hence, automation would prove more economical than labor-intensive cashew processing. His own plan was to retire from the business in five years, but to his disappointment, he found that none of his three daughters was interested in running the business. Giridhar felt he would not have the ability to manage a new, profitable automated factory, which would demand quite an effort, as he got older. Lack of support from the family would add to that burden. In November 2014, he was contemplating future options that included selling his business, expanding the business and inducting professional non-family members to steer the enterprise's future. The dilemma before him was to choose the option that would be best for him, his enterprise and his family.
Swot Analysis of "Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack" written by Sivakumar Alur, Kavil Ramachandran, Navneet Bhatnagar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cashew Giridhar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Leadership transitions, Succession planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cashew Giridhar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cashew Giridhar 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cashew Giridhar
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 Cashew Giridhar
Strengths Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cashew Giridhar in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Cashew Giridhar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cashew Giridhar digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cashew Giridhar 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cashew Giridhar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cashew Giridhar 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cashew Giridhar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cashew Giridhar in the sector have low bargaining power. Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cashew Giridhar to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Cashew Giridhar 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 Cashew Giridhar is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Cashew Giridhar has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cashew Giridhar to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Sivakumar Alur, Kavil Ramachandran, Navneet Bhatnagar 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cashew Giridhar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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.
Weaknesses Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cashew Giridhar 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 - Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack, in the dynamic environment Cashew Giridhar has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cashew Giridhar has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack, it seems that the employees of Cashew Giridhar 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cashew Giridhar products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cashew Giridhar needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cashew Giridhar is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Cashew Giridhar 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cashew Giridhar 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cashew Giridhar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Cashew Giridhar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cashew Giridhar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cashew Giridhar 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. Cashew Giridhar 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cashew Giridhar, firm in the HBR case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cashew Giridhar 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.
Opportunities Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack | 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Cashew Giridhar 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cashew Giridhar to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Cashew Giridhar can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cashew Giridhar can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cashew Giridhar operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cashew Giridhar 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cashew Giridhar 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 Cashew Giridhar to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cashew Giridhar has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cashew Giridhar to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack case study. Cashew Giridhar can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cashew Giridhar 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cashew Giridhar 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 Cashew Giridhar to increase its market reach. Cashew Giridhar 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cashew Giridhar 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.
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. Cashew Giridhar 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. Cashew Giridhar 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.
Threats Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cashew Giridhar 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cashew Giridhar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cashew Giridhar 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cashew Giridhar with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack, Cashew Giridhar 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 .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cashew Giridhar 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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 Cashew Giridhar in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cashew Giridhar is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Cashew Giridhar
– 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 Cashew Giridhar.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cashew Giridhar 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.
Environmental challenges
– Cashew Giridhar 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. Cashew Giridhar can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Cashew Giridhar.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Leadership Succession at Achal: A Tough Nut to Crack 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 Cashew Giridhar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
