IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship
In 1999, IBM India became a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM Corporation and established a presence in 14 cities across the country. True to its integrated philosophy of corporate citizenship, as the parent company expanded business operations to growth markets around the world, it rolled out citizenship initiatives in those markets. In 2011, IBM International Foundation awarded a grant of US$100,000 to IBM India for Smarter Villages, an India-specific project whose goal was to bring rural Indian villages to technological parity with cities by setting up supply chains and introducing micro financing and other services to create opportunities for an increase in farmer incomes. IBM India management hoped that, if successful, the project could be embedded in the organizational fabric of the global company and thus would reflect its own responsible leadership. The question was whether it would be possible to inculcate a spirit of stakeholder engagement and inspire volunteerism among the company's young workforce.
Swot Analysis of "IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship" written by Vidhi Chaudhri, Asha Kaul includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ibm Citizenship facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational culture, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ibm Citizenship, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ibm Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ibm Citizenship
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 Ibm Citizenship
Strengths IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ibm Citizenship in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ibm Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ibm Citizenship 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.
Learning organization
- Ibm Citizenship 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 Ibm Citizenship is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ibm Citizenship digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ibm Citizenship 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Ibm Citizenship 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 Ibm Citizenship in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ibm Citizenship has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ibm Citizenship 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 brand equity
– Ibm Citizenship has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ibm Citizenship to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Ibm Citizenship is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ibm Citizenship is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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
– Ibm Citizenship 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
– IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ibm Citizenship to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ibm Citizenship to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ibm Citizenship 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.
Weaknesses IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship, is just above the industry average. Ibm Citizenship 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 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 Ibm Citizenship supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ibm Citizenship vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ibm Citizenship 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. Ibm Citizenship 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ibm Citizenship 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship, in the dynamic environment Ibm Citizenship has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ibm Citizenship has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 Ibm Citizenship has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ibm Citizenship 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ibm Citizenship is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Ibm Citizenship needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ibm Citizenship to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ibm Citizenship 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 - IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship | 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship are -
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. Ibm Citizenship can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ibm Citizenship 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ibm Citizenship has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ibm Citizenship to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship case study. Ibm Citizenship can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ibm Citizenship in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
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 Ibm Citizenship 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ibm Citizenship 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, IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Ibm Citizenship 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. Ibm Citizenship 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ibm Citizenship is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ibm Citizenship can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ibm Citizenship can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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.
Threats IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship are -
Increasing wage structure of Ibm Citizenship
– 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 Ibm Citizenship.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ibm Citizenship 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ibm Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship .
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 Ibm Citizenship 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ibm Citizenship 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 Ibm Citizenship with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Ibm Citizenship in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Ibm Citizenship 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ibm Citizenship 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.
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. Ibm Citizenship needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 IBM India: Localizing a Global Model of Corporate Citizenship 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 Ibm Citizenship needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
