SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Misc. Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd
Strengths of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd in Misc. Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Transportation
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Transportation industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation 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.
High brand equity
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Transportation industry. This has provided Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Transportation sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Transportation industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Transportation industry
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Transportation industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Weaknesses of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Transportation industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Transportation industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Transportation industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Transportation industry over the last five years. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Transportation industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Transportation industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry using digital technology.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is just above the Misc. Transportation 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Transportation sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Transportation sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Transportation sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Transportation 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd to increase its market reach. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Transportation industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd in the Misc. Transportation industry. Now Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Transportation 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry.
Threats Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd prominent markets.
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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd is facing in Misc. Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry and other sectors.
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. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd in the Misc. Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Transportation sector.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Transportation sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Misc. Transportation industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd 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 Ruchi Infrastructure Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.