Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Reliance Infrastructure DRC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Reliance Infrastructure DRC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reliance Infrastructure DRC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
Strengths of Reliance Infrastructure DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reliance Infrastructure DRC are -
Organizational Resilience of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Reliance Infrastructure DRC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Reliance Infrastructure DRC staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Analytics focus
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 of United Kingdom 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
High brand equity
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Reliance Infrastructure DRC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Reliance Infrastructure DRC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Reliance Infrastructure DRC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Reliance Infrastructure DRC in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC is one of the leading players in the industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Reliance Infrastructure DRC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Reliance Infrastructure DRC in the sector have low bargaining power. Reliance Infrastructure DRC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Reliance Infrastructure DRC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Weaknesses of Reliance Infrastructure DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Reliance Infrastructure DRC are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, Reliance Infrastructure DRC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Reliance Infrastructure DRC has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Reliance Infrastructure DRC lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Reliance Infrastructure DRC, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact industry. 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Reliance Infrastructure DRC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Reliance Infrastructure DRC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Reliance Infrastructure DRC is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Reliance Infrastructure DRC is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Reliance Infrastructure DRC needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Reliance Infrastructure DRC to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Reliance Infrastructure DRC has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 at Reliance Infrastructure DRC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Reliance Infrastructure DRC is planning to shift buying processes online.
Reliance Infrastructure DRC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Reliance Infrastructure DRC are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Reliance Infrastructure DRC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Reliance Infrastructure DRC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reliance Infrastructure DRC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Reliance Infrastructure DRC to build a more holistic ecosystem for Reliance Infrastructure DRC products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Reliance Infrastructure DRC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Reliance Infrastructure DRC can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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. Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Reliance Infrastructure DRC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Reliance Infrastructure DRC to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 industry.
Threats Reliance Infrastructure DRC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Reliance Infrastructure DRC are -
Regulatory challenges
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Reliance Infrastructure DRC
– 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Reliance Infrastructure DRC can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Reliance Infrastructure DRC in industry. The industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Reliance Infrastructure DRC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reliance Infrastructure DRC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Reliance Infrastructure DRC may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
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. Reliance Infrastructure DRC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Reliance Infrastructure DRC is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reliance Infrastructure DRC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC 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 Reliance Infrastructure DRC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.