Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan
Roshan is a highly successful telecommunications company founded by the Aga Khan fund for Economic Development in Afghanistan during an ongoing civil conflict. Company leaders must now decide financial and market strategy for the next phase of development of the company. Should they sell the company -- and reinvest the proceeds in another socially-oriented venture? Continue to operate and expand the company? Expand to other neighboring countries?
Swot Analysis of "Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan" written by Herman B. Leonard, Qahir Dhanani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Roshan Afghanistan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Ethics, Government, Security & privacy, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Roshan Afghanistan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Roshan Afghanistan
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 Roshan Afghanistan
Strengths Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Roshan Afghanistan in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan Afghanistan in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan Afghanistan is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Roshan Afghanistan to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Roshan Afghanistan to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Roshan Afghanistan in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Roshan Afghanistan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Roshan Afghanistan is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Roshan Afghanistan is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Roshan Afghanistan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Roshan Afghanistan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Roshan Afghanistan 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, Roshan Afghanistan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Roshan Afghanistan 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 - Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan, in the dynamic environment Roshan Afghanistan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Roshan Afghanistan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Roshan Afghanistan, firm in the HBR case study Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Roshan Afghanistan 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan Afghanistan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Roshan Afghanistan products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Roshan Afghanistan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan | 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan are -
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 Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Roshan Afghanistan to increase its market reach. Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Roshan Afghanistan can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Roshan Afghanistan can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Buying journey improvements
– Roshan Afghanistan can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Roshan Afghanistan 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.
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 Roshan Afghanistan in the consumer business. Now Roshan Afghanistan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Roshan Afghanistan 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.
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. Roshan Afghanistan can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Roshan Afghanistan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Roshan Afghanistan 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, Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Roshan Afghanistan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Roshan Afghanistan 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Roshan Afghanistan
– 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 Roshan Afghanistan.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Roshan Afghanistan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Roshan Afghanistan 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Roshan Afghanistan is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Roshan Afghanistan 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.
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 Roshan Afghanistan.
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. Roshan Afghanistan 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Roshan Afghanistan 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.
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 Roshan Afghanistan in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Roshan Afghanistan business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Roshan Afghanistan 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, Roshan Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan: Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan 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 Roshan Afghanistan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.