The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar
This two-party case is designed to teach negotiation within the context of turnaround management, stakeholder management, change management or public sector negotiation. The negotiation between Sudhir Kumar, Officer on Special Duty to the Minister of Railways, and Gaurav Malik, Chief Engineer, is about how to maximise revenues for the ailing Indian Railways, notably by increasing rolling stock axle loads without compromising safety. The case emphasizes the tension between commercial gains and social needs, but also lends itself to discussions about safety, corruption, government and business in India.
Swot Analysis of "The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar" written by Horacio Falcao, Claudia Zeisberger, Claudia Gehlen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Railways Sudhir facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Ethics, Influence, Negotiations and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Railways Sudhir, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Railways Sudhir 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Railways Sudhir
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 Railways Sudhir
Strengths The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Railways Sudhir in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Railways Sudhir 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Railways Sudhir is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Railways Sudhir
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Railways Sudhir does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Railways Sudhir in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Railways Sudhir 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 Railways Sudhir is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Railways Sudhir 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 Horacio Falcao, Claudia Zeisberger, Claudia Gehlen 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Railways Sudhir is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Railways Sudhir is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Railways Sudhir has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Railways Sudhir 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Railways Sudhir has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Railways Sudhir 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Railways Sudhir 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, Railways Sudhir 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar, is just above the industry average. Railways Sudhir 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 Railways Sudhir 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Railways Sudhir, firm in the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 Railways Sudhir has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Railways Sudhir 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 - The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Railways Sudhir is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar, it seems that the employees of Railways Sudhir don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on 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 Railways Sudhir supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Railways Sudhir vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar | 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Railways Sudhir can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Railways Sudhir can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Railways Sudhir has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Railways Sudhir to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar case study. Railways Sudhir can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Railways Sudhir can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Railways Sudhir to increase its market reach. Railways Sudhir 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Railways Sudhir can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Railways Sudhir 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Railways Sudhir 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Railways Sudhir is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Railways Sudhir 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Railways Sudhir to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– Railways Sudhir 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Railways Sudhir can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Railways Sudhir operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Railways Sudhir 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 Railways Sudhir to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Railways Sudhir 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar .
Environmental challenges
– Railways Sudhir 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. Railways Sudhir 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 Railways Sudhir 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Railways Sudhir 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Railways Sudhir has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Railways Sudhir 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Railways Sudhir is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Railways Sudhir with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Railways Sudhir 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Railways Sudhir 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar, Railways Sudhir 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Railways Sudhir 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. Railways Sudhir can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Railways Sudhir business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar 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 Railways Sudhir needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of The Indian Railways 'Cash Cow' - Over or Extra Loading? (A): Confidential Instructions for Sudhir Kumar
