The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys
This case delves into the operational details of values-based leadership. It addresses core issues including: how do visionary leaders set directions and clear and visible values for the firm; how do they measure performance; and how do they balance the needs of all stakeholders? It explains how the founding entrepreneurs stimulated innovation; how knowledge and capabilities at Infosys are built from top down and bottom up; how sustainability is ensured through a leadership system and how strategies for continued growth are deployed. It analyzes the way behavior and culture influence the course of an entrepreneurial organization's development.
Authors :: Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, Anupam Agrawal, Elizabeth Florent-Treacy
Swot Analysis of "The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys" written by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, Anupam Agrawal, Elizabeth Florent-Treacy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Infosys Values facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Infosys Values, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Infosys Values 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Infosys Values
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 Infosys Values
Strengths The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Infosys Values in The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Infosys Values is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Infosys Values in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Infosys Values 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Infosys Values 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Infosys Values 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Infosys Values is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Infosys Values 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 Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, Anupam Agrawal, Elizabeth Florent-Treacy 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.
Learning organization
- Infosys Values 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 Infosys Values is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Infosys Values digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Infosys Values 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Infosys Values to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Infosys Values to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Infosys Values in the sector have low bargaining power. The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Infosys Values to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Infosys Values 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Infosys Values 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. Infosys Values 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Infosys Values is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys HBR case study mentions - Infosys Values 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys, is just above the industry average. Infosys Values 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Infosys Values products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Infosys Values needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Infosys Values is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Infosys Values needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Infosys Values to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys, in the dynamic environment Infosys Values has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Infosys Values has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Infosys Values is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Infosys Values, firm in the HBR case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys | 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Infosys Values 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.
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. Infosys Values 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. Infosys Values 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Infosys Values to increase its market reach. Infosys Values 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Infosys Values is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Infosys Values 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Infosys Values to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Infosys Values in the consumer business. Now Infosys Values can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Infosys Values 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Infosys Values 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 Infosys Values to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Infosys Values can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Infosys Values 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Infosys Values 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Infosys Values can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Infosys Values can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Infosys Values 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Infosys Values has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Infosys Values 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.
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 Infosys Values business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Infosys Values
– 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 Infosys Values.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Infosys Values 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.
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.
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 Infosys Values in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Infosys Values needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Infosys Values 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. Infosys Values can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Infosys Values 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Infosys Values 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Infosys Values is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 The Moral Compass: Values-based Leadership at Infosys 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 Infosys Values needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.