Case Study Description of MRT Micro: The CardioScope
Jan Bakke, founder and chairman of Norway-based MRT, was planning the U.S. market entry strategy for CardioScope--its electrocardiograph system. How could MRT get a foothold in the U.S. market against competitors who had been around for 50 years? How could he ensure that MRT would be able to defend itself once it entered the market? What segments should it target, and how should it position itself?
Authors :: Mohanbir Sawhney, Benjamin Hill, John Miller, Peter Nylund
Swot Analysis of "MRT Micro: The CardioScope" written by Mohanbir Sawhney, Benjamin Hill, John Miller, Peter Nylund includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mrt Cardioscope facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MRT Micro: The CardioScope case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research, Risk management and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MRT Micro: The CardioScope casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MRT Micro: The CardioScope
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MRT Micro: The CardioScope case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mrt Cardioscope, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mrt Cardioscope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MRT Micro: The CardioScope case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mrt Cardioscope
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 Mrt Cardioscope
Strengths MRT Micro: The CardioScope | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mrt Cardioscope in MRT Micro: The CardioScope Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mrt Cardioscope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mrt Cardioscope in the sector have low bargaining power. MRT Micro: The CardioScope has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mrt Cardioscope to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mrt Cardioscope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope - 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 Sales & Marketing industry
– MRT Micro: The CardioScope firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mrt Cardioscope to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mrt Cardioscope to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Mrt Cardioscope 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 Mrt Cardioscope in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Mrt Cardioscope has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MRT Micro: The CardioScope Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Mrt Cardioscope is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in MRT Micro: The CardioScope Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Mrt Cardioscope has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mrt Cardioscope to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mrt Cardioscope in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mrt Cardioscope digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mrt Cardioscope has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Learning organization
- Mrt Cardioscope 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 Mrt Cardioscope is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in MRT Micro: The CardioScope Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses MRT Micro: The CardioScope | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MRT Micro: The CardioScope are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope, is just above the industry average. Mrt Cardioscope 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, Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mrt Cardioscope has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mrt Cardioscope 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 Mrt Cardioscope 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mrt Cardioscope 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 - MRT Micro: The CardioScope should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Mrt Cardioscope supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - MRT Micro: The CardioScope, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mrt Cardioscope vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mrt Cardioscope 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. Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mrt Cardioscope is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities MRT Micro: The CardioScope | 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mrt Cardioscope 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, MRT Micro: The CardioScope, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mrt Cardioscope 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.
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 Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
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 Mrt Cardioscope in the consumer business. Now Mrt Cardioscope can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mrt Cardioscope is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mrt Cardioscope 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mrt Cardioscope has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mrt Cardioscope to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MRT Micro: The CardioScope case study. Mrt Cardioscope can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mrt Cardioscope can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mrt Cardioscope can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats MRT Micro: The CardioScope External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope are -
Increasing wage structure of Mrt Cardioscope
– 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 Mrt Cardioscope.
Regulatory challenges
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
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 Mrt Cardioscope business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Mrt Cardioscope in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Mrt Cardioscope needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mrt Cardioscope with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Mrt Cardioscope can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study MRT Micro: The CardioScope, Mrt Cardioscope may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mrt Cardioscope 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.
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.
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 Mrt Cardioscope.
Environmental challenges
– Mrt Cardioscope 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. Mrt Cardioscope can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 MRT Micro: The CardioScope 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 Mrt Cardioscope needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
