Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future
At the end of 2014, the owner of India-based Thakur Engineering Works (TEW) was at a crossroads in determining his company's future. After more than two decades of solidly building the family business's reputation at home, the producer and supplier of auto parts was poised for expansion either domestically or globally. TEW already produced parts that were shipped overseas via domestic exporters. The owner could not help but wonder about the possibility of simply shipping the parts directly to foreign clients. While that decision would require changes to its logistics and operations and would incur costs related to exports, the owner could not ignore the pay-off in profits. In India, the auto parts market was experiencing a slowdown, resulting in fierce competition, price reductions, and pressure to deliver parts faster. Despite these challenges, the Indian market was one he understood, so expansion there carried little risk. Should TEW continue to focus on increasing its market position domestically or was the time right for TEW to target the more profitable global market? Meenakshi Jakhar is affiliated with Management Development Institute. Manoj Kumar Srivastava is affiliated with Management Development Institute.
Swot Analysis of "Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future" written by Meenakshi Jakhar, Manoj Kumar Srivastava includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tew Thakur facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tew Thakur, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tew Thakur 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tew Thakur
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 Tew Thakur
Strengths Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tew Thakur in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 brand equity
– Tew Thakur has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tew Thakur to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Tew Thakur has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tew Thakur is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tew Thakur 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tew Thakur to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tew Thakur to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tew Thakur is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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.
Analytics focus
– Tew Thakur 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 Meenakshi Jakhar, Manoj Kumar Srivastava 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tew Thakur 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Tew Thakur is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tew Thakur has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tew Thakur 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tew Thakur 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Tew Thakur 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future, in the dynamic environment Tew Thakur has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tew Thakur has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Tew Thakur products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Tew Thakur needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future HBR case study mentions - Tew Thakur 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Tew Thakur has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tew Thakur, firm in the HBR case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tew Thakur is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tew Thakur 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tew Thakur 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 - Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Tew Thakur 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tew Thakur is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future | 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tew Thakur 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, Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Tew Thakur 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.
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. Tew Thakur can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tew Thakur 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tew Thakur 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tew Thakur can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tew Thakur has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tew Thakur to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future case study. Tew Thakur can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tew Thakur can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tew Thakur operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Tew Thakur 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tew Thakur 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tew Thakur 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.
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. Tew Thakur 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. Tew Thakur 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tew Thakur 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.
Threats Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future are -
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. Tew Thakur needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tew Thakur with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Tew Thakur can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Tew Thakur business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future, Tew Thakur 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tew Thakur has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tew Thakur 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Tew Thakur needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Tew Thakur can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Tew Thakur 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tew Thakur 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tew Thakur 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tew Thakur 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future 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 Tew Thakur needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.