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 - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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 -
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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Articles Lavasa has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Articles Lavasa 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Articles Lavasa 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Articles Lavasa is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Articles Lavasa
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Articles Lavasa does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Articles Lavasa to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Articles Lavasa to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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 -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Articles Lavasa has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, it seems that the employees of Articles Lavasa 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.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Articles Lavasa has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Articles Lavasa 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.
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.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Articles Lavasa 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Articles Lavasa is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Articles Lavasa in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Articles Lavasa 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, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) (A): Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Articles Lavasa can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of 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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Articles Lavasa 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.
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 -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Articles Lavasa 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
– 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.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Articles Lavasa can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Articles Lavasa
– 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 Articles Lavasa.
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Articles Lavasa in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Articles Lavasa with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 .
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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