Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
Case A offers an overview and Case B explores specific aspects of a major Indian construction firm which seeks to use corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool in its quest for rapid growth at home and abroad. Source materials include on-site interviews of the firm's executives, line managers and workers in Delhi, Mumbai and Lavasa, as well as corporate reports, scholarly articles, and domestic and international press articles.
Swot Analysis of "Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility" written by Mark Hunter, Luk Van Wassenhove includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Articles Lavasa facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Articles Lavasa, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Articles Lavasa 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Articles Lavasa
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Articles Lavasa
Strengths Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Articles Lavasa in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Articles Lavasa digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Articles Lavasa 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Articles Lavasa in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Articles Lavasa has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Articles Lavasa is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Articles Lavasa in the sector have low bargaining power. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Articles Lavasa to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Articles Lavasa 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Articles Lavasa 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 Articles Lavasa is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Articles Lavasa is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Articles Lavasa is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Articles Lavasa in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Articles Lavasa has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Articles Lavasa to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Articles Lavasa 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.
Weaknesses Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mark Hunter, Luk Van Wassenhove suggests that, Articles Lavasa 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Articles Lavasa 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. Articles Lavasa 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Articles Lavasa products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Articles Lavasa needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Articles Lavasa 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Articles Lavasa 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 - Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Articles Lavasa is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Articles Lavasa supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Articles Lavasa vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Articles Lavasa 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility HBR case study mentions - Articles Lavasa 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, in the dynamic environment Articles Lavasa has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Articles Lavasa has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility | 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Articles Lavasa has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Articles Lavasa to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility case study. Articles Lavasa 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 Articles Lavasa 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Articles Lavasa can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Articles Lavasa can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Articles Lavasa can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Articles Lavasa 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 Articles Lavasa in the consumer business. Now Articles Lavasa can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Articles Lavasa 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Articles Lavasa to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Articles Lavasa is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Articles Lavasa 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 Leadership & Managing People 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, Articles Lavasa can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Articles Lavasa operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Articles Lavasa can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Articles Lavasa to increase its market reach. Articles Lavasa 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.
Threats Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility are -
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 Articles Lavasa in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, Articles Lavasa may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Articles Lavasa is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Articles Lavasa 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility .
Environmental challenges
– Articles Lavasa 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. Articles Lavasa can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Articles Lavasa 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Articles Lavasa 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Articles Lavasa has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Articles Lavasa needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Articles Lavasa 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.
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 Articles Lavasa.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Articles Lavasa 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Articles Lavasa needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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