Case Study Description of Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired
Align Inc. is a start-up company with a revolutionary, patent-protected new technology for straightening teeth called Invisalign. Invisalign is a set of invisible plastic aligners made to each patient's specific needs that substitute for metal or ceramic braces in adults (it is not sold for children's orthodontic needs). The company has created tremendous consumer awareness and affect for its product, yet sales results are dismal. Requires the reader to analyze the reasons for such poor sales and what to do to remedy the problem.
Authors :: Anne Coughlan, Julie Hennessy, Andrei Najjar
Swot Analysis of "Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired" written by Anne Coughlan, Julie Hennessy, Andrei Najjar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Invisalign Aligners facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Invisalign Aligners, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Invisalign Aligners
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Invisalign Aligners
Strengths Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Invisalign Aligners in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign Aligners in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Invisalign Aligners is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign Aligners is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign Aligners in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Invisalign Aligners is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Invisalign Aligners has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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.
Organizational Resilience of Invisalign Aligners
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Invisalign Aligners does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Invisalign Aligners 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 Anne Coughlan, Julie Hennessy, Andrei Najjar 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 Invisalign Aligners 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Invisalign Aligners has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Invisalign Aligners 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.
Weaknesses Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Invisalign Aligners is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired, it seems that the employees of Invisalign Aligners 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Invisalign Aligners 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Invisalign Aligners has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired, in the dynamic environment Invisalign Aligners has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Invisalign Aligners has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign Aligners has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anne Coughlan, Julie Hennessy, Andrei Najjar suggests that, Invisalign Aligners 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign Aligners 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired, is just above the industry average. Invisalign Aligners 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Invisalign Aligners products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Invisalign Aligners needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired | 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Invisalign Aligners 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Invisalign Aligners can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Invisalign Aligners operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Invisalign Aligners can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Invisalign Aligners in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Invisalign Aligners can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Invisalign Aligners 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, Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired, 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 Invisalign Aligners 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign Aligners to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Invisalign Aligners to increase its market reach. Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign Aligners 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Invisalign Aligners has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Invisalign Aligners 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. Invisalign Aligners 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.
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 Invisalign Aligners in the consumer business. Now Invisalign Aligners can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired are -
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 Invisalign Aligners.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Invisalign Aligners 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Invisalign Aligners with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Invisalign Aligners 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.
Environmental challenges
– Invisalign Aligners 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. Invisalign Aligners can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Invisalign Aligners
– 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 Invisalign Aligners.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Invisalign Aligners 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. Invisalign Aligners needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Invisalign Aligners has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Invisalign Aligners needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Invisalign Aligners can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Invisalign Aligners is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Invisalign Aligners 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign: Orthodontics Unwired 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 Invisalign Aligners needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
