Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A)
Choosing the right summer internship can often mean landing a plum position in the company after graduation. Ria Kumar arrived fully prepped for the summer slot interview having studied industry reports, research articles, and analyst reports. She talked to alumni and even spent time at the local Wal-Mart studying the merchandising assortment and product placement. Not surprisingly, she was offered the 12-week internship. The disguised (A) case describes Kumar's 12 weeks and allows students to think about the issues her experience brings forth. Were there red flags? Was her supervision appropriate? Would she be offered a position post graduation? Would she want it? In the (B) case, Kumar decides to work part-time in the local Wal-Mart to gain an "in-store" perspective. Again, she behaved proactively as part of her strategy to get the job offer. The in-store-experience, however, left an unfavorable view of the organization in Kumar's mind. What had her expectations been when she started the part-time job? What did this suggest about corporate management practices?
Swot Analysis of "Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A)" written by Lynn Isabella, Ria Kumar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kumar's Internship facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Coaching, Human resource management, Leadership, Psychology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kumar's Internship, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kumar's Internship 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kumar's Internship
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 Kumar's Internship
Strengths Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kumar's Internship in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Kumar's Internship is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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
– Kumar's Internship 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 Lynn Isabella, Ria Kumar 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.
Training and development
– Kumar's Internship has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kumar's Internship 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Kumar's Internship has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Kumar's Internship 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.
Learning organization
- Kumar's Internship 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 Kumar's Internship is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kumar's Internship in the sector have low bargaining power. Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kumar's Internship to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kumar's Internship in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Kumar's Internship is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kumar's Internship 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Kumar's Internship 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 Kumar's Internship in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A), in the dynamic environment Kumar's Internship has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kumar's Internship has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Kumar's Internship 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kumar's Internship is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Kumar's Internship has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kumar's Internship 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 - Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kumar's Internship 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kumar's Internship 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Kumar's Internship supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kumar's Internship vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kumar's Internship is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Kumar's Internship needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kumar's Internship to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A), 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kumar's Internship 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. Kumar's Internship 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.
Opportunities Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) | 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) are -
Buying journey improvements
– Kumar's Internship can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kumar's Internship to increase its market reach. Kumar's Internship 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kumar's Internship is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kumar's Internship has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kumar's Internship to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) case study. Kumar's Internship can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kumar's Internship 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.
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 Kumar's Internship in the consumer business. Now Kumar's Internship can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Kumar's Internship can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kumar's Internship 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kumar's Internship 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kumar's Internship can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kumar's Internship 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kumar's Internship to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kumar's Internship can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kumar's Internship operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kumar's Internship 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.
Threats Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kumar's Internship 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kumar's Internship has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kumar's Internship 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
– Kumar's Internship 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kumar's Internship 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.
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 Kumar's Internship in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Kumar's Internship can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kumar's Internship is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Kumar's Internship needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kumar's Internship 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.
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 Kumar's Internship business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kumar's Internship 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Wal-Mart Through An Associate's Eyes: Ria Kumar's MBA Summer Internship (A) 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 Kumar's Internship needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.