Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds (BOBA) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Crops
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
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%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
Strengths of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in India. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in India. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Crops
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Crops industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Digital Transformation in Crops industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Crops 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.
Weaknesses of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Crops industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Employees’ less understanding of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is just above the Crops industry average. It 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds, in the dynamic environment of Crops industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Crops industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has high operating costs in the Crops industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Crops industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Crops industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry.
Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Crops sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Crops industry. This can help Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to build a more holistic ecosystem for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds products in the Crops industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds to increase its market reach. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Crops industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Crops industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
– 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds.
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. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Crops 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. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
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.
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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry and other sectors.
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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry.
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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.