Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996
Becton Dickinson, a U.S.-based maker of medical and diagnostic devices, has been organized into a mixed structure of U.S.-based divisions and country/region organizations. In 1995, three businesses shifted to become worldwide divisions, forcing a reexamination of the relationship between product and geographic units.
Swot Analysis of "Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996" written by Philip M. Rosenzweig includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Becton Dickinson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Becton Dickinson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Becton Dickinson
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 Becton Dickinson
Strengths Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Becton Dickinson in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Becton Dickinson in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Becton Dickinson is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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.
Learning organization
- Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Becton Dickinson 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 Philip M. Rosenzweig 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Becton Dickinson is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Becton Dickinson has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Becton Dickinson to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Becton Dickinson
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Becton Dickinson does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Becton Dickinson 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Becton Dickinson in the sector have low bargaining power. Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Becton Dickinson to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Becton Dickinson is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Becton Dickinson is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Becton Dickinson needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Becton Dickinson to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996, it seems that the employees of Becton Dickinson 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Becton Dickinson 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.
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 Becton Dickinson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Becton Dickinson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 HBR case study mentions - Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Becton Dickinson needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Becton Dickinson 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996, 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 | 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Becton Dickinson can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Becton Dickinson 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Becton Dickinson 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Becton Dickinson 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Becton Dickinson has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Becton Dickinson to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 case study. Becton Dickinson can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Becton Dickinson to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Becton Dickinson to increase its market reach. Becton Dickinson 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Becton Dickinson 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Becton Dickinson 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, Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Becton Dickinson 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Becton Dickinson in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Becton Dickinson 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Becton Dickinson 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.
Threats Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Becton Dickinson is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Becton Dickinson needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Becton Dickinson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996, Becton Dickinson 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 .
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. Becton Dickinson 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Becton Dickinson 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.
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 Becton Dickinson.
Increasing wage structure of Becton Dickinson
– 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 Becton Dickinson.
Environmental challenges
– Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Becton Dickinson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Becton Dickinson 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise--1996 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 Becton Dickinson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.