Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods
This case explores issues faced by the corporate sustainability manager at the corporate headquarters of a large hotel group in a developing nation as she implements her company's corporate sustainability strategy through supplier partnerships with bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) social organizations. Under the rubric of responsible purchasing, the hotelier's "Creating Sustainable Livelihoods" initiative engaged cause-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by exploring opportunities where the products or services of such organizations could substitute for similar products or services sourced from for-profit suppliers. The case illustrates the challenges inherent in a BoP responsible purchasing strategy, including the delicate balance between meeting business objectives while supporting social causes.
Swot Analysis of "Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods" written by Garima Sharma, David G Hyatt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Livelihoods Bop facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Social responsibility, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Livelihoods Bop, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Livelihoods Bop
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 Livelihoods Bop
Strengths Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Livelihoods Bop in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Livelihoods Bop has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Livelihoods Bop to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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.
Training and development
– Livelihoods Bop has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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.
Analytics focus
– Livelihoods Bop 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 Garima Sharma, David G Hyatt 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
- Livelihoods Bop 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 Livelihoods Bop is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Livelihoods Bop in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Livelihoods Bop is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Livelihoods Bop digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Livelihoods Bop 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Livelihoods Bop 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
– Livelihoods Bop is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Livelihoods Bop
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Livelihoods Bop does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Livelihoods Bop 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Livelihoods Bop is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Livelihoods Bop is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods, in the dynamic environment Livelihoods Bop has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Livelihoods Bop has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Garima Sharma, David G Hyatt suggests that, Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Livelihoods Bop has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Livelihoods Bop 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. Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Livelihoods Bop 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Livelihoods Bop, firm in the HBR case study Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Livelihoods Bop has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Opportunities Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods | 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Livelihoods Bop is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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.
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 Livelihoods Bop in the consumer business. Now Livelihoods Bop can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Livelihoods Bop 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Livelihoods Bop can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Livelihoods Bop can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Livelihoods Bop operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Livelihoods Bop has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Livelihoods Bop to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods case study. Livelihoods Bop can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Livelihoods Bop 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, Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Livelihoods Bop 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.
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. Livelihoods Bop can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Livelihoods Bop to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Livelihoods Bop 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Livelihoods Bop 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 Livelihoods Bop 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.
Threats Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Livelihoods Bop 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 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 wage structure of Livelihoods Bop
– 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 Livelihoods Bop.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Livelihoods Bop has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Livelihoods Bop 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.
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 Livelihoods Bop in the Leadership & Managing People 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. Livelihoods Bop needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Livelihoods Bop 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.
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 Livelihoods Bop.
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 Livelihoods Bop business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Livelihoods Bop 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Livelihoods Bop is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Livelihoods Bop 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 Livelihoods Bop 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Taj Hotels: Building Sustainable Livelihoods 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 Livelihoods Bop needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.