Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs)
Supplement to case IES519. Taurion Inc. is a start-up company established in 2006 and based in Vienna. It specializes in researching the causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as developing diagnostic tools and targeted drugs to combat it.For several years, the founders of the company - two renowned scientists and a finance professional - have been focusing on the role of one deficient protein present in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, the tau protein, which is believed to have a decisive influence on the development of AD. Taurion discovered a particular form of the diseased tau protein which has a causal role in AD and developed three molecules (successfully tested in rats) to prevent its occurrence. By treating truncated tau, Taurion expects to develop the next blockbuster in the pharmaceutical industry to prevent AD. This research approach is controversial, as big pharmaceutical companies don't see any market potential in the tau protein in relation to AD.Taurion's challenge is to convince a VC investor - who at the moment is facing all the challenges of a sharp industry downturn - to invest in the company in order to be able to run clinical trials with its three molecules and hopefully achieve promising results that will call the attention of big players in the industry.Under these conditions, students assume the roles of Taurion's management team and VC investors to develop a fundraising proposal and an investment offer, respectively.
Authors :: Heinrich Liechtenstein, Uli Grabenwarter
Swot Analysis of "Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs)" written by Heinrich Liechtenstein, Uli Grabenwarter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tau Taurion facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Health, Negotiations, Technology, Venture capital and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tau Taurion, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tau Taurion 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 Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tau Taurion
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Tau Taurion
Strengths Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tau Taurion in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Tau Taurion
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tau Taurion does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tau Taurion is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Tau Taurion 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 Tau Taurion is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tau Taurion has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Tau Taurion has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – 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 Finance & Accounting field
– Tau Taurion is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Tau Taurion 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 Tau Taurion in the sector have low bargaining power. Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tau Taurion to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tau Taurion in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tau Taurion 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
– Tau Taurion 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 suggested by Heinrich Liechtenstein, Uli Grabenwarter can also help 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
– Tau Taurion is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting strategy. 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) HBR case study mentions - Tau Taurion 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Heinrich Liechtenstein, Uli Grabenwarter suggests that, Tau Taurion 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 industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tau Taurion has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Tau Taurion 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) that the firm 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 in the case Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tau Taurion is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tau Taurion 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), it seems that the employees of Tau Taurion 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tau Taurion 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 industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Tau Taurion 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tau Taurion has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tau Taurion is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Tau Taurion needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tau Taurion to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tau Taurion has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tau Taurion to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) case study. Tau Taurion can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tau Taurion 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 Tau Taurion to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tau Taurion can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tau Taurion 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Tau Taurion can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) suggest that firm 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Tau Taurion can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Tau Taurion 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tau Taurion 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, Tau Taurion 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tau Taurion can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tau Taurion can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tau Taurion operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Tau Taurion 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tau Taurion 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. Tau Taurion 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.
Threats Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) are -
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 Tau Taurion business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tau Taurion has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tau Taurion needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Tau Taurion.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tau Taurion 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 field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Tau Taurion 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.
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 Tau Taurion in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Tau Taurion
– 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 Tau Taurion.
Regulatory challenges
– Tau Taurion 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tau Taurion in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), Tau Taurion may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tau Taurion 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 the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) 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 the case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) 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 the Harvard case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) 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 Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) is 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 Tau Taurion needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.