Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways
This teaching case examines the implementation of a new technology for tracking individual freight railcars (wagons) by Indian Railways. After exploring multiple 'technological options,' the Indian Railways decided to undertake a pilot project based on time-tested Automatic Equipment Identification system using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. However, a number of other technological options are now available, which include EPC Gen2-based RFID systems, Global Positioning System solutions, Optical Character Recognition (OCR)-based systems, and manual hand-held data collection devices integrated with the current Freight Operations System. Each of these systems has its own advantages and limitations. Although Indian Railways officials are going ahead with the pilot project, they are uncertain as to the appropriate technological choice, given the wide range of available technology options. Further, they are faced with competing interests from different stakeholder groups (departments), who favor different technologies.
Authors :: Shirish C. Srivastava, Sharat S. Mathur, Thompson SH Teo
Swot Analysis of "Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways" written by Shirish C. Srivastava, Sharat S. Mathur, Thompson SH Teo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Railways Railcars facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Railways Railcars, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Railways Railcars 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Railways Railcars
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 Railways Railcars
Strengths Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Railways Railcars in Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Railways Railcars to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Railways Railcars to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Railways Railcars in the sector have low bargaining power. Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Railways Railcars to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Railways Railcars 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Railways Railcars 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Railways Railcars 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Railways Railcars has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Railways Railcars 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.
High brand equity
– Railways Railcars has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Railways Railcars to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Railways Railcars in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Railways Railcars 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 Shirish C. Srivastava, Sharat S. Mathur, Thompson SH Teo 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Railways Railcars 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 Railways Railcars
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Railways Railcars does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Railways Railcars has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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.
Weaknesses Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Railways Railcars is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Railways Railcars is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Railways Railcars needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Railways Railcars to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Railways Railcars 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways, in the dynamic environment Railways Railcars has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Railways Railcars has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Railways Railcars 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Railways Railcars, firm in the HBR case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Railways Railcars has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Railways Railcars 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways HBR case study mentions - Railways Railcars 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Railways Railcars 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways | 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways are -
Loyalty marketing
– Railways Railcars 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.
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 Railways Railcars 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Railways Railcars 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.
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. Railways Railcars can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Railways Railcars is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Railways Railcars 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.
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 Railways Railcars in the consumer business. Now Railways Railcars can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Railways Railcars can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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.
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. Railways Railcars can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Railways Railcars 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Railways Railcars 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, Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways, 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 Railways Railcars can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Railways Railcars 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.
Threats Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways are -
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.
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 Railways Railcars in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Railways Railcars 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Railways Railcars is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways, Railways Railcars 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Railways Railcars 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Railways Railcars 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways .
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. Railways Railcars needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Railways Railcars
– 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 Railways Railcars.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Railways Railcars has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Railways Railcars 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Railways Railcars 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Railways Railcars with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Railways Railcars.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Competing Technology Options And Stakeholder Interests For Tracking Freight Railcars In Indian Railways 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 Railways Railcars needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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