HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes
In June 2015, two entrepreneurs launched HeyTaxi!, a start-up venture that used bicycle taxis in Mumbai. The goal was to reduce the time, effort, and money spent by citizens on commuting. But the entrepreneurs faced a problem of survival and sustainability: the government authorities refused to issue a licence for the bike-taxi service. The venture was favoured by citizens who used its services, but HeyTaxi! was limited to marketing its service not as a legitimate taxi service but as a ride-sharing service. HeyTaxi! was fulfilling a social need, and customer loyalty was fuelling the venture's journey, but the absence of regulatory permits put the longevity of HeyTaxi! at risk. Concerns about HeyTaxi!'s future needed to be addressed to ensure the venture's survival, scalability, and sustainability. Manjari Srivastava is affiliated with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. Meena Galliara is affiliated with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
Authors :: Aishwarya A, Manjari Srivastava, Meena Galliara
Swot Analysis of "HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes" written by Aishwarya A, Manjari Srivastava, Meena Galliara includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Heytaxi Monjee facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Heytaxi Monjee, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Heytaxi Monjee 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Heytaxi Monjee
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 Heytaxi Monjee
Strengths HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Heytaxi Monjee in HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Heytaxi Monjee has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Heytaxi Monjee to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Heytaxi Monjee is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Heytaxi Monjee in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Heytaxi Monjee 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Heytaxi Monjee in the sector have low bargaining power. HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Heytaxi Monjee to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Heytaxi Monjee has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Heytaxi Monjee digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Heytaxi Monjee is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Heytaxi Monjee 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 Heytaxi Monjee
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Heytaxi Monjee does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Heytaxi Monjee 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 Heytaxi Monjee in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Heytaxi Monjee 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes HBR case study mentions - Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Heytaxi Monjee is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Heytaxi Monjee needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Heytaxi Monjee to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Heytaxi Monjee 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, Heytaxi Monjee is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes, in the dynamic environment Heytaxi Monjee has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Heytaxi Monjee 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, Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Heytaxi Monjee 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Heytaxi Monjee has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Heytaxi Monjee even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Heytaxi Monjee is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Heytaxi Monjee 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 - HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes | 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Heytaxi Monjee 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, Heytaxi Monjee can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Heytaxi Monjee operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Heytaxi Monjee 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 Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Heytaxi Monjee has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Heytaxi Monjee to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes case study. Heytaxi Monjee can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Heytaxi Monjee can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 Heytaxi Monjee can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Heytaxi Monjee 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, Heytaxi Monjee 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, HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Heytaxi Monjee in the consumer business. Now Heytaxi Monjee can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Heytaxi Monjee can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Heytaxi Monjee to increase its market reach. Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Threats HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes are -
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 Heytaxi Monjee in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Heytaxi Monjee 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.
Environmental challenges
– Heytaxi Monjee 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. Heytaxi Monjee can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Heytaxi Monjee 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.
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 Heytaxi Monjee.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Heytaxi Monjee has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Heytaxi Monjee 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 wage structure of Heytaxi Monjee
– 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 Heytaxi Monjee.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes, Heytaxi Monjee 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 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
– Heytaxi Monjee 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.
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. Heytaxi Monjee can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Heytaxi Monjee 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 HeyTaxi!: A Two-Wheeler Solution for Mumbai's Traffic Woes 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 Heytaxi Monjee needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
