Case Study Description of Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth
Jaipur Rugs Company Private Limited, a family-owned business, was founded with the twin goals of leading a thriving export business and helping artisan weavers to live with dignity and keep their heritage alive. In 2015, this company was the largest exporter of hand-knotted carpets from India and faced two dilemmas: Should the company focus exclusively on hand-knotted carpets, as preferred by the founder and some family members, or should it focus on tufted carpets, which also provided a considerable share of the company's total revenue and had increased the company's sales? Also, because of the number of recent departures by non-family members from the management team, a balance was needed in terms of the family's values and those of the hired professionals that were brought into the company. Many initiatives had been introduced at the company, but would they be sufficiently helpful to achieve the company's goals? Margie Parikh is affiliated with B. K. School of Business Management.
Swot Analysis of "Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth" written by Margie Parikh includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carpets Knotted facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, International business, Leadership transitions, Manufacturing, Negotiations, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carpets Knotted, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carpets Knotted 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carpets Knotted
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 Carpets Knotted
Strengths Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carpets Knotted in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Carpets Knotted 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
– Carpets Knotted is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Carpets Knotted is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Carpets Knotted 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 Carpets Knotted in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Carpets Knotted 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
– Carpets Knotted has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Carpets Knotted 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Carpets Knotted digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Carpets Knotted 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Carpets Knotted is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Carpets Knotted 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 Carpets Knotted is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Carpets Knotted 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Carpets Knotted in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carpets Knotted 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Carpets Knotted 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth, it seems that the employees of Carpets Knotted don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Carpets Knotted has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth HBR case study mentions - Carpets Knotted 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Carpets Knotted, firm in the HBR case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Carpets Knotted 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth, 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
Carpets Knotted 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Carpets Knotted products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Carpets Knotted needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Carpets Knotted 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 - Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Carpets Knotted is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Carpets Knotted needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Carpets Knotted to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth | 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth are -
Manufacturing automation
– Carpets Knotted can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Carpets Knotted in the consumer business. Now Carpets Knotted can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Carpets Knotted 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carpets Knotted to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Carpets Knotted 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, Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Carpets Knotted can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Carpets Knotted 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. Carpets Knotted can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Carpets Knotted can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carpets Knotted can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Carpets Knotted 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Carpets Knotted 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Carpets Knotted can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carpets Knotted 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 Carpets Knotted has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Carpets Knotted to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth case study. Carpets Knotted can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Carpets Knotted has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Carpets Knotted 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Carpets Knotted 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth, Carpets Knotted 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 .
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 Carpets Knotted business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Carpets Knotted 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Carpets Knotted is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Carpets Knotted 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Carpets Knotted 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.
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. Carpets Knotted needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Carpets Knotted 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. Carpets Knotted can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Carpets Knotted 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.
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. Carpets Knotted can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Jaipur Rugs: Balancing Goals And Organizational Growth 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 Carpets Knotted needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.