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 - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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 -
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.
High brand equity
– Tau Taurion has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tau Taurion to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tau Taurion to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tau Taurion to invest into research and development (R&D) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tau Taurion 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Tau Taurion products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Tau Taurion needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Tau Taurion supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tau Taurion vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tau Taurion is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Tau Taurion has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Tau Taurion 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.
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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), is just above the industry average. Tau Taurion 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tau Taurion 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tau Taurion to increase its market reach. Tau Taurion 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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tau Taurion 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, as suggested in case study, Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Tau Taurion in the consumer business. Now Tau Taurion can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tau Taurion in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tau Taurion 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 prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (VCs) .
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tau Taurion is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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.
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. Tau Taurion needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Tau Taurion needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Tau Taurion can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting 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. Tau Taurion 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.
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.
