Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A)
In 2005, Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar, a Pune, India-based software company, and his senior management team are considering consolidating staff and resources at the firms. Natarajan proposes an additional, possible controversial business unit to the proposed new structure. The additional unit would explore new markets for the firm's promising innovation-Solution BluePrint (SBP). While he knew that some on his team would resist his proposal, he was eager to get the new technology into the field, and felt he had the right manager to lead the proposed group. Natarajan felt sure a group dedicated to SBP led by one of the firm's most respected technologists would help spur adoption.
Swot Analysis of "Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A)" written by Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Natarajan Sbp facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, IT, Leadership, Organizational culture, Organizational structure and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Natarajan Sbp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Natarajan Sbp 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Natarajan Sbp
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 Natarajan Sbp
Strengths Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Natarajan Sbp in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Natarajan Sbp 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Natarajan Sbp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Natarajan Sbp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Natarajan Sbp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Natarajan Sbp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Natarajan Sbp is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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.
Strong track record of project management
– Natarajan Sbp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Natarajan Sbp in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Natarajan Sbp is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Natarajan Sbp 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Natarajan Sbp 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 Natarajan Sbp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Natarajan Sbp 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 Natarajan Sbp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Natarajan Sbp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Natarajan Sbp 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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.
Weaknesses Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Natarajan Sbp, firm in the HBR case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Natarajan Sbp 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A), is just above the industry average. Natarajan Sbp needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Natarajan Sbp 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, Natarajan Sbp 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. Natarajan Sbp 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Natarajan Sbp 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A), in the dynamic environment Natarajan Sbp has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Natarajan Sbp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Natarajan Sbp 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Natarajan Sbp has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) HBR case study mentions - Natarajan Sbp 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Natarajan Sbp 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 - Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) are -
Loyalty marketing
– Natarajan Sbp 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Natarajan Sbp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Natarajan Sbp 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, Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Natarajan Sbp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Natarajan Sbp 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Natarajan Sbp 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.
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. Natarajan Sbp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Natarajan Sbp can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Natarajan Sbp operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Natarajan Sbp can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Natarajan Sbp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Natarajan Sbp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Natarajan Sbp to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) case study. Natarajan Sbp can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Natarajan Sbp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Natarajan Sbp to increase its market reach. Natarajan Sbp 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) 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. Natarajan Sbp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Natarajan Sbp high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Natarajan Sbp 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.
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. Natarajan Sbp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Natarajan Sbp with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Natarajan Sbp 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A), Natarajan Sbp 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Natarajan Sbp 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Natarajan Sbp 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A) .
Environmental challenges
– Natarajan Sbp 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. Natarajan Sbp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing wage structure of Natarajan Sbp
– 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 Natarajan Sbp.
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 Natarajan Sbp in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (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 Natarajan Sbp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
