Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business
Amarnath Gupta and Sons was a distributor of lubricants and owner of a petrol pump based in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. The business was originally set up as a family-owned single petrol pump in 1953. The family member currently in charge of daily operations had expanded the business significantly, especially since the entry of new multinational players in the Indian lubricant market. In 2013, this owner-partner was looking at ways to involve his children-one of whom had finished college (a son), one of whom was in college (a daughter), and one of whom was about to start college (a son)-in the family business. Should three businesses be established for each of the three children, or should they all be part of the same business? How could the next generation enter the business successfully? Professors Rajesh Panda, Pooja Gupta and Madhvi Sethi are affiliated with Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru (A constituent of Symbiosis International University, Pune).
Swot Analysis of "Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business" written by Rajesh Panda, Pooja Gupta, Madhvi Sethi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gupta Amarnath facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gupta Amarnath, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gupta Amarnath 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gupta Amarnath
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 Gupta Amarnath
Strengths Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gupta Amarnath in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Gupta Amarnath is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gupta Amarnath 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gupta Amarnath digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gupta Amarnath 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Gupta Amarnath is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Gupta Amarnath 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 Gupta Amarnath is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Gupta Amarnath has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gupta Amarnath to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gupta Amarnath 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gupta Amarnath in the sector have low bargaining power. Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gupta Amarnath to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gupta Amarnath is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Gupta Amarnath
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gupta Amarnath does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gupta Amarnath 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business, it seems that the employees of Gupta Amarnath 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Gupta Amarnath 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 Gupta Amarnath, firm in the HBR case study Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gupta Amarnath 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. Gupta Amarnath 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gupta Amarnath 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Gupta Amarnath 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gupta Amarnath needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rajesh Panda, Pooja Gupta, Madhvi Sethi suggests that, Gupta Amarnath 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gupta Amarnath 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gupta Amarnath is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Gupta Amarnath has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business | 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business are -
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 Gupta Amarnath in the consumer business. Now Gupta Amarnath can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gupta Amarnath 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.
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. Gupta Amarnath 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. Gupta Amarnath 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.
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 Gupta Amarnath 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Gupta Amarnath can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gupta Amarnath 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gupta Amarnath 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gupta Amarnath is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gupta Amarnath 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.
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. Gupta Amarnath can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Gupta Amarnath 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, Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gupta Amarnath 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 Gupta Amarnath to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gupta Amarnath can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Gupta Amarnath is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gupta Amarnath 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.
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 Gupta Amarnath business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Gupta Amarnath 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gupta Amarnath 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gupta Amarnath with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Gupta Amarnath
– 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 Gupta Amarnath.
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. Gupta Amarnath can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gupta Amarnath 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.
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.
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. Gupta Amarnath needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gupta Amarnath has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gupta Amarnath 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.
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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Amarnath Gupta and Sons: The Family Business 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 Gupta Amarnath needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
