Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs)
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 (Entrepreneurs)" 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 (Entrepreneurs) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, 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 (Entrepreneurs) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs)
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 (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) | 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 (Entrepreneurs) Harvard Business Review case study are -
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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tau Taurion has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tau Taurion is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tau Taurion in the sector have low bargaining power. Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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.
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 (Entrepreneurs) 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tau Taurion digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tau Taurion 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.
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 (Entrepreneurs) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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 (Entrepreneurs) | 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 (Entrepreneurs) are -
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs), 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tau Taurion is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs), 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Opportunities Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) | 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 (Entrepreneurs) are -
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Tau Taurion can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tau Taurion is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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.
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.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tau Taurion has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tau Taurion to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Threats Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) are -
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.
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.
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 (Entrepreneurs) .
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.
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.
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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tau Taurion with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Tau Taurion can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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 (Entrepreneurs) 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.
