Case Study Description of NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS
The Naukri case deals with the talent retention challenge that most Indian companies are facing. The case explores different personnel retention scenarios that the founder encounters and how best he handles them. The case discusses Entrepreneurial and Leadership challenges in fast growing companies in India. Learning objectives: Understanding employee retention, leadership and entrepreneurial challenges in India.
Swot Analysis of "NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS" written by Anand Narasimhan, Aparna Dogra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Retention Naukri facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Talent management, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Retention Naukri, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Retention Naukri
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 Retention Naukri
Strengths NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Retention Naukri in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Retention Naukri in the sector have low bargaining power. NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Retention Naukri to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Retention Naukri 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Retention Naukri in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Retention Naukri 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 Anand Narasimhan, Aparna Dogra 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Retention Naukri is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Retention Naukri to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Retention Naukri 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 Retention Naukri digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Retention Naukri 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.
High brand equity
– Retention Naukri has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Retention Naukri to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Retention Naukri 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 Retention Naukri is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Retention Naukri is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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.
Weaknesses NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Retention Naukri products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Retention Naukri needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS, is just above the industry average. Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 Retention Naukri 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Retention Naukri, firm in the HBR case study NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Retention Naukri 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 Retention Naukri has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Retention Naukri 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 - NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS, it seems that the employees of Retention Naukri 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Retention Naukri 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, Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS | 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Retention Naukri 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.
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. Retention Naukri can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Retention Naukri in the consumer business. Now Retention Naukri can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Retention Naukri 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Retention Naukri 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Retention Naukri to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Retention Naukri 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Retention Naukri 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Retention Naukri has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Retention Naukri to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS case study. Retention Naukri can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Retention Naukri to increase its market reach. Retention Naukri 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Retention Naukri can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Retention Naukri operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Retention Naukri can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Retention Naukri 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.
Threats NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS, Retention Naukri 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Retention Naukri
– 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 Retention Naukri.
Environmental challenges
– Retention Naukri 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. Retention Naukri can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Retention Naukri with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Retention Naukri has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Retention Naukri 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.
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 Retention Naukri business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Retention Naukri.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Retention Naukri 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.
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. Retention Naukri can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Retention Naukri 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS .
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. Retention Naukri needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Retention Naukri 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 NAUKRI: THREE RETENTION DILEMMAS 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 Retention Naukri needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.