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Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A)


The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), a Bangalore-based non-governmental organization (NGO), has been hailed globally for running the world's largest school meal program. It operated through 16 centralized and 3 decentralized kitchens across 9 states of India; it states its Mission 2020 as being able to reach out to 5 million children by 2020. The challenge that the foundation faces in achieving its stated mission is not only of scaling up by 2020, but also of maintaining the economic sustainability of its operations in view of increased government spending on alternative social sector schemes such as Right to Food, which may reduce or limit allocations to the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme. The case aims to study the critical challenges that Akshaya Patra faces in sustaining its operations and the several sustainability initiatives undertaken by the NGO to meet the various challenges it faces and the opportunities that it could further take to innovatively fulfil its mission of feeding 5 million children daily by 2020. It looks at the interrelations between the different dimensions of sustainability and uses frameworks to assess these sustainability initiatives at Akshaya Patra.

Authors :: Anshuman Tripathy, Tamojit Tarit Roy

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Social responsibility, Supply chain, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A)" written by Anshuman Tripathy, Tamojit Tarit Roy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Akshaya Patra facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility, Supply chain, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Akshaya Patra, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Akshaya Patra
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 Akshaya Patra




Strengths Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Akshaya Patra in Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

High brand equity

– Akshaya Patra has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Akshaya Patra to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Akshaya Patra in the sector have low bargaining power. Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Akshaya Patra to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Training and development

– Akshaya Patra has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Akshaya Patra to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Akshaya Patra to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Akshaya Patra 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 Akshaya Patra in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Strong track record of project management

– Akshaya Patra is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Akshaya Patra in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Analytics focus

– Akshaya Patra 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 Anshuman Tripathy, Tamojit Tarit Roy 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anshuman Tripathy, Tamojit Tarit Roy suggests that, Akshaya Patra 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Akshaya Patra, firm in the HBR case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A), 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Akshaya Patra has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Akshaya Patra is planning to shift buying processes online.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A), in the dynamic environment Akshaya Patra has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Akshaya Patra has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Akshaya Patra 's lucrative customers.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A), is just above the industry average. Akshaya Patra 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Akshaya Patra is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Akshaya Patra 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.




Opportunities Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) | 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) are -

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Akshaya Patra 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. Akshaya Patra 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Akshaya Patra to increase its market reach. Akshaya Patra 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Akshaya Patra to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Akshaya Patra 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. Akshaya Patra can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Akshaya Patra 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.

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. Akshaya Patra can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Akshaya Patra is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Akshaya Patra 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Akshaya Patra 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 Akshaya Patra to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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 Akshaya Patra 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Akshaya Patra can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Akshaya Patra operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

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 Akshaya Patra in the consumer business. Now Akshaya Patra can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.




Threats Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) are -

Increasing wage structure of Akshaya Patra

– 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 Akshaya Patra.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Akshaya Patra 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

– Akshaya Patra 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.

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 Akshaya Patra business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Akshaya Patra has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Akshaya Patra 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Akshaya Patra 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.

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 Akshaya Patra.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Akshaya Patra 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 Akshaya Patra with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Akshaya Patra 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) .

Environmental challenges

– Akshaya Patra 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. Akshaya Patra can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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 Akshaya Patra in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Akshaya Patra is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Sustaining the Akshaya Patra Foundation (A) 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 Akshaya Patra needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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