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 – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds staying ahead in the Crops industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
Strong track record of project management in the Crops industry
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
Analytics focus
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry. The technology infrastructure of India is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 -
Skills based hiring in Crops industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has some of the most successful models in the Crops industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 -
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.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
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.
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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Crops industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 in Crops industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in the Crops industry. Now Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Crops industry.
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.
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.
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. Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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.
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 -
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds in Crops industry. The Crops 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds 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 Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds prominent markets.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Bombay Super Hybrid Seeds may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Crops sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.