RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland
The case describes the inception and early stage evolution of RuralShores - a business process outsourcing organization established in rural India (Rural BPO). RBPO is a unique business model that involves the rural poor in delivering remote services such as transaction processing via telecommunication links. Although India has a thriving BPO business, all BPO organizations are located in urban centers. The founders of RuralShores conceptualized the rural BPO model so that it can be inclusive, empower rural women and solve problems of large-scale migration. Locating a BPO organization in rural India enabled significant savings in cost. However, it had its attendant challenges, such as dealing with poor quality infrastructure and a lower level of skills among the employees. RuralShores not only overcame these challenges but also ensured that its service levels were on par with those of urban BPO organizations. In the process, it was able to create positive impact in the lives of its employees as well as give a boost to the local economy. This motivated it to embark on an aggressive plan of scaling that involves geographic expansion through a franchisee model and increasing the scope of RuralShores' activities.
Swot Analysis of "RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland" written by Sourav Mukherji includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ruralshores Bpo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ruralshores Bpo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ruralshores Bpo
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 Ruralshores Bpo
Strengths RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ruralshores Bpo in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ruralshores Bpo
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ruralshores Bpo does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ruralshores Bpo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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.
Learning organization
- Ruralshores Bpo 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 Ruralshores Bpo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Ruralshores Bpo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ruralshores Bpo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ruralshores Bpo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Ruralshores Bpo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland - 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 Ruralshores Bpo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Ruralshores Bpo 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 Sourav Mukherji 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.
Weaknesses RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ruralshores Bpo 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 Ruralshores Bpo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland HBR case study mentions - Ruralshores Bpo 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 Ruralshores Bpo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Ruralshores Bpo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ruralshores Bpo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ruralshores Bpo 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 - RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland, in the dynamic environment Ruralshores Bpo has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ruralshores Bpo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland, is just above the industry average. Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ruralshores Bpo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ruralshores Bpo 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. Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland | 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ruralshores Bpo to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
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. Ruralshores Bpo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ruralshores Bpo to increase its market reach. Ruralshores Bpo 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.
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. Ruralshores Bpo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ruralshores Bpo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ruralshores Bpo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ruralshores Bpo to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland case study. Ruralshores Bpo can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ruralshores Bpo 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, RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ruralshores Bpo can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ruralshores Bpo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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.
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 Ruralshores Bpo in the consumer business. Now Ruralshores Bpo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ruralshores Bpo to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Ruralshores Bpo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland are -
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 Ruralshores Bpo.
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. Ruralshores Bpo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Increasing wage structure of Ruralshores Bpo
– 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 Ruralshores Bpo.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland, Ruralshores Bpo 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ruralshores Bpo is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ruralshores Bpo 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland .
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.
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 Ruralshores Bpo in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ruralshores Bpo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ruralshores Bpo 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.
Environmental challenges
– Ruralshores Bpo 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. Ruralshores Bpo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 RuralShores: Service Excellence at the Indian Hinterland 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 Ruralshores Bpo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.