Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and
Threat (SWOT) Analysis
What Is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a
framework used to evaluate a company's competitive position and to
develop strategic planning. SWOT analysis assesses internal and external
factors, as well as current and future potential.
A SWOT analysis is designed to facilitate a realistic, fact-based, data-
driven look at the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, its
initiatives, or an industry. The organization needs to keep the analysis
accurate by avoiding pre-conceived beliefs or gray areas and instead
focusing on real-life contexts. Companies should use it as a guide and not
necessarily as a prescription.
Advantages of SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is a great way to guide business-strategy meetings. It's
powerful to have everyone in the room to discuss the company's core
strengths and weaknesses and then move from there to define the
opportunities and threats, and finally to brainstorming ideas. Oftentimes,
the SWOT analysis you envision before the session changes throughout
to reflect factors you were unaware of and would never have captured if
not for the group’s input.
A company can use a SWOT for overall business strategy sessions or for
a specific segment such as marketing, production or sales. This way, you
can see how the overall strategy developed from the SWOT analysis will
filter down to the segments below before committing to it. You can also
work in reverse with a segment-specific SWOT analysis that feeds into an
overall SWOT analysis.
An Analysis on Taj Group of Hotels
SWOT analysis of Taj Hotels analyses the brand/company with its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats. In Taj Hotels SWOT
Analysis, the strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors whereas
opportunities and threats are the external factors.
SWOT Analysis is a proven management framework which enables a
brand like Taj Hotels to benchmark its business & performance as
compared to the competitors and industry. Taj Hotels is one of the
leading brands in the tourism and hospitality sector. The table below also
lists the top Taj Hotels competitors and elaborates Taj Hotels market
segmentation, target group, positioning & Unique Selling Proposition
(USP).
The Taj Hotel- Introduction
• The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and its subsidiaries are
collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.
• It is recognized as one of Asia's largest and finest hotel company.
• Incorporated by the founder of the Tata Group, Mr. Jamshedji N. Tata.
• The company opened its first property, The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel,
Bombay in 1903.
• The Taj, a symbol of Indian hospitality, completed its century year in
2003.
• Currently the Taj Hotels Resort and Palaces owns and operates 93
hotels in 55 locations across India with an additional 16 international
hotels in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, UK, USA, Bhutan, Sri Lanka,
Africa and the Middle East and employ over 13000 people
Segment, Target Group,
Positioning
Segment Leisure and business travelers
Upper class,
business travelers
Prime location, luxury living with
Positioning Indian values
Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Taj
Hotels
Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its
gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its
competitors. The following are the strengths of Taj Hotels &
Resorts:
Catering to multiple segments: The Taj Group of Hotels
has something that caters to all segment. While the Taj
Vivanta caters to the upper upscale segment, Taj the luxury
segment, Gateway the upscale and Ginger the economy
segment. This ensures that irrespective of income status all
customers choose a Taj Hotel for their stay.
Business Philosophy: The business philosophy of the Taj
has primarily based on the premise that not everyone is the
same. Thus through clearly segmenting the market the hotel
has been able to clearly differentiate their offering not just
to cater to different income segments but also to different
cultures.
Amenities: The Taj Group of Hotels has a host of facilities
in all their hotels. Their hotels have a host of facilities for
guests like rooms, spas, jacuzzi, multi-cuisine restaurants,
swimming pools, pubs, resto cafes, fitness centers and
banquet hall. Some of their hotels also have mega
convention centers with facilities to host conferences for a
huge gathering.
Customer Loyalty programs: Quite unlike other hotel
chains who look at loyalty programs in the Taj Group the
customer is given a chance to earn points from all stays in
all properties of the group. The key feature of their loyalty
program is the automatic upgrade to a higher-class hotel
within the group. For example, a customer who has been
frequently staying in a Ginger Hotel may get an upgrade to
the Taj Vivanta or Taj if they have sufficient loyalty points.
Service Differentiation: The Taj research team has
identified around 155 touch points in customer service from
the moment a customer enters into their property till the
time they leave from there where there is a face to face
interaction. The hotel chain has ensured that in each of
these points there is a clear service difference.
Focus on the business class: The hotel chain realized the
scope for growth in business class travel and thus opened
Taj Residency a business class hotel. The hotel chain also
moved out to smaller towns and cities and this expansion
has helped to increase the customer base of the business.
Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Taj
Hotels
Some of the key weaknesses of Taj Group of Hotels are:
Customer Relationships: Hotels today need to be on their
toes in terms of customer relationship management. The
key to success today is a compilation of information of
customers which enables them to understand them better
and give personalized services. This is proving to be
extremely costly for Taj.
Unequal growth across segments: While the economy
and upper upscale segment were registering good growth,
the luxury segment was still lagging. However, the
maintenance and upkeep costs of the luxury hotels are
relatively higher and the returns low. The hotel has been
pumping money from their medium segments for the
upkeep of their luxury hotels.
The high cost of maintenance: The maintenance costs of
hotels are growing and with a network of almost 100 hotels
across India and other properties in countries like Bhutan,
Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE, UK,
USA, and Zambia the cost of maintenance is becoming
unaffordable.
Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Taj
Hotels
Some of the opportunities include:
Growth in smaller towns: The Taj Group of Hotels is an
established player in the Indian market and the hotel chain
is expanding into smaller towns and cities a task which is
impossible for the multinational hoteliers.
Threats in the SWOT analysis of Taj
Hotels
Some of the threats include:
Competition: The main competitors of Taj Group of Hotels
are Oberoi, Sheraton, Radisson, Hilton, Wyndham
Worldwide, and Intercontinental Hotels.
Conclusion & Recommendation
• Strict compliance to the SOPs (Standard Operating
Procedures)
• Improvement in knowledge & skill set of employees
• Customer centric vis-à-vis profit centric approach
• Stopping unethical practices especially in seasons
• Treat all the customers equally
• Taking feedback not only from external
customers but also the internal customers
i.e., the employees.
• Proper check on the hotel staff’s and
processes’ efficiency by the
management, say by employing
Mystery Customers.
• Keeping regular track of the sales data for further leads
and follow up
TAJ BUSINESS TAJ LUXURY
HOTELS HOTELS
TAJ PRESIDENT, TAJ TAJ PALACE, TAJ
RESIDENCY, TAJ MAHAL, TAJ BENGAL,
CONNEMARA, TAJ BLUE TAJ WEST END
DIAMOND
OFFER FINEST
OFFER MULTI – STANDARD OF
CUISINE RESTAURANTS HOSPITALITY & SERVICE
TAJ LEISURE
HOTELS
TAJ BEACH RESORT, TAJ
CULTURAL CENTRE, TAJ
GARDEN RETREATS
LOCATED AT BEACH
RESORTS, PALACES,
PILGRIM CENTRES ETC.
