Case Study Description of Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities
After a highly successful third round of funding in 2012, Gaurav Jain, founder of quick service restaurant chain Mast Kalandar, was looking to expand. In addition to opening new stores in other cities, Jain was also hoping to increase the profitability of his existing stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune. He needed to fully understand the financials of his current operations and identify the key drivers of success at the stores, at both the city and corporate levels. With this understanding, he would be able to evaluate how best to improve the performance of existing outlets and to choose an entry strategy for new cities. Students are asked to develop a financial model for outlets and use it to compare different growth strategies.
Swot Analysis of "Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities" written by Sunil Chopra, Sudhir Arni, Jacqueline Tan, Ilya Trakhtenberg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kalandar Mast facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kalandar Mast, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kalandar Mast 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kalandar Mast
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 Kalandar Mast
Strengths Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kalandar Mast in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kalandar Mast 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Kalandar Mast has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kalandar Mast in the sector have low bargaining power. Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kalandar Mast to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kalandar Mast is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Kalandar Mast is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Kalandar Mast
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Kalandar Mast does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kalandar Mast digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kalandar Mast 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.
Analytics focus
– Kalandar Mast 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 Sunil Chopra, Sudhir Arni, Jacqueline Tan, Ilya Trakhtenberg can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Innovation driven organization
– Kalandar Mast is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kalandar Mast 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kalandar Mast 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.
Weaknesses Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Kalandar Mast, firm in the HBR case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, it seems that the employees of Kalandar Mast 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Kalandar Mast 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kalandar Mast 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 - Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kalandar Mast 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, in the dynamic environment Kalandar Mast has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kalandar Mast has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, is just above the industry average. Kalandar Mast 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 Kalandar Mast products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kalandar Mast needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kalandar Mast 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kalandar Mast is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Kalandar Mast needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kalandar Mast to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities | 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kalandar Mast 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kalandar Mast 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, Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kalandar Mast can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kalandar Mast operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kalandar Mast 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.
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 Kalandar Mast 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kalandar Mast 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 Kalandar Mast to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kalandar Mast 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Kalandar Mast 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.
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 Kalandar Mast in the consumer business. Now Kalandar Mast can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kalandar Mast to increase its market reach. Kalandar Mast 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kalandar Mast can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kalandar Mast is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kalandar Mast 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.
Threats Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities are -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kalandar Mast can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Kalandar Mast business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Kalandar Mast 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, Kalandar Mast 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities .
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 Kalandar Mast.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kalandar Mast 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.
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. Kalandar Mast can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kalandar Mast has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kalandar Mast 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. Kalandar Mast 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kalandar Mast 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities, Kalandar Mast 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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 Mast Kalandar: Prioritizing Growth Opportunities 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 Kalandar Mast needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.