Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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 (B)
After Proposing a fourth business unit to help grow the market for zensar's innovative technology, to be led by Dilip Ittyera, CEO Natarajan adopted a new organizational structure focused on industry verticals.
Swot Analysis of "Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B)" written by Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Natarajan Dilip facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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 (B) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B)
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 (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Natarajan Dilip, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Natarajan Dilip 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 (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Natarajan Dilip
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 Dilip
Strengths Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Natarajan Dilip in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Natarajan Dilip 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 Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron 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
– Natarajan Dilip is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Natarajan Dilip in the sector have low bargaining power. Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Natarajan Dilip to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Natarajan Dilip 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 (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Natarajan Dilip is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Natarajan Dilip in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Natarajan Dilip 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Natarajan Dilip is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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
- Natarajan Dilip 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 Dilip 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 (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Natarajan Dilip has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Natarajan Dilip to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Natarajan Dilip to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Natarajan Dilip digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Natarajan Dilip has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) | 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 (B) are -
Need for greater diversity
– Natarajan Dilip 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Natarajan Dilip, firm in the HBR case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Natarajan Dilip 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 Dilip 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) HBR case study mentions - Natarajan Dilip 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Natarajan Dilip 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Natarajan Dilip 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Natarajan Dilip 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Natarajan Dilip is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron suggests that, Natarajan Dilip is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Natarajan Dilip needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Natarajan Dilip 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.
Opportunities Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) | 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 (B) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Natarajan Dilip is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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.
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 Dilip can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Natarajan Dilip operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Natarajan Dilip can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Natarajan Dilip 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Natarajan Dilip to increase its market reach. Natarajan Dilip 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Natarajan Dilip 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. Natarajan Dilip can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Natarajan Dilip 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 (B) 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 Dilip 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Natarajan Dilip 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Natarajan Dilip to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Dilip 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 Dilip has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Natarajan Dilip to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) case study. Natarajan Dilip can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Natarajan Dilip 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 Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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 (B) are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Natarajan Dilip in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Natarajan Dilip 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Natarajan Dilip is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Natarajan Dilip 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
– Natarajan Dilip has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Natarajan Dilip 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.
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.
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. Natarajan Dilip 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.
Environmental challenges
– Natarajan Dilip 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 Dilip can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Natarajan Dilip 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 Dilip can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Natarajan Dilip
– 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 Dilip.
Regulatory challenges
– Natarajan Dilip 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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 (B) 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 Dilip needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
