Case Study Description of Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally
Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's first non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies, the lack of new medical therapies coming to market, and the decline in growth of Medtronic's core businesses has reduced the company's once dynamic growth close to zero. As the newly appointed CEO, Ishrak faces the formidable challenge of restoring the company's growth. In his first 18 months as CEO, he has laid the groundwork for future growth by ramping up R&D investment in breakthrough therapy innovations. To bolster Medtronic's near-term prospects, he has supported creative product and business model innovations aimed at overcoming adoption barriers in emerging economies. Ishrak restructured his executive team and their responsibilities: the heads of Medtronic's global operating regions and major countries, who previously reported to the head of international, now report directly to the CEO, putting seven non-Americans on the excecutive committee. In another important milestone, Medtronic acquired a Chinese orthopedics company, which became its first fully integrated business unit outside the U.S. Ishrak is trying to decide whether these steps are sufficient to transform Medtronic from a multinational into a truly global company and restore its growth.
Swot Analysis of "Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally" written by Bill George, Natalie Kindred includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ishrak Medtronic's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Globalization, Health, Innovation, Leadership, Leading teams, Manufacturing, Strategy and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ishrak Medtronic's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ishrak Medtronic's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ishrak Medtronic's
Strengths Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ishrak Medtronic's in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Ishrak Medtronic's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ishrak Medtronic's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ishrak Medtronic's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ishrak Medtronic's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Ishrak Medtronic's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Ishrak Medtronic's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ishrak Medtronic's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ishrak Medtronic's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Ishrak Medtronic's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ishrak Medtronic's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ishrak Medtronic's in the sector have low bargaining power. Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ishrak Medtronic's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Ishrak Medtronic's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Ishrak Medtronic's 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ishrak Medtronic's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Bill George, Natalie Kindred suggests that, Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ishrak Medtronic's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ishrak Medtronic's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Ishrak Medtronic's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ishrak Medtronic's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Ishrak Medtronic's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Ishrak Medtronic's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ishrak Medtronic's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally, is just above the industry average. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Opportunities Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally | 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally are -
Buying journey improvements
– Ishrak Medtronic's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ishrak Medtronic's can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ishrak Medtronic's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ishrak Medtronic's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ishrak Medtronic's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ishrak Medtronic's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally case study. Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Ishrak Medtronic's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ishrak Medtronic's 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. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ishrak Medtronic's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ishrak Medtronic's 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, Ishrak Medtronic's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ishrak Medtronic's to increase its market reach. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Organizational Development segment.
Threats Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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. Ishrak Medtronic's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
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.
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. Ishrak Medtronic's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ishrak Medtronic's in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ishrak Medtronic's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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. Ishrak Medtronic's 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.
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 Ishrak Medtronic's in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ishrak Medtronic's 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ishrak Medtronic's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ishrak Medtronic's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally, Ishrak Medtronic's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally 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 Ishrak Medtronic's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
