Case Study Description of Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm
In April 2013, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Forus Health Private Limited sat in his office in Bangalore, India contemplating the future direction of his company. He was under pressure by his venture capital partner to rapidly penetrate the market for 3nethra - an innovative, multi-functional and low-cost ophthalmology device - before imitators stepped in. Given its features and advantages over expensive imported specialized tools, 3nethra could help address the huge challenge of preventable blindness in India, but after three years since inception, only 100 devices had been sold. Although the market opportunity was large, acceptance by the ophthalmology profession was key to gaining momentum. He had two choices: to maximize sales numbers through the scattergun tactic of going all out and all over the market or to build a sufficient base of positive word of mouth to gain the momentum necessary to pole-vault from the early to the mainstream market. How should he direct his sales team to take the company forward? Ramesh Narasimhan is affiliated with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). Nattuvathuckal Barnabas is affiliated with SVKM'S NMINMS University.
Swot Analysis of "Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm" written by Ramesh Narasimhan, M.V. Ravikumar, Nattuvathuckal Barnabas includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 3nethra Forus facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 3nethra Forus, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 3nethra Forus 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 3nethra Forus
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 3nethra Forus
Strengths Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 3nethra Forus in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- 3nethra Forus 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 3nethra Forus is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– 3nethra Forus has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 3nethra Forus 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the 3nethra Forus are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of 3nethra Forus in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– 3nethra Forus 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– 3nethra Forus is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– 3nethra Forus 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 3nethra Forus in the sector have low bargaining power. Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps 3nethra Forus to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– 3nethra Forus 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 3nethra Forus in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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.
Organizational Resilience of 3nethra Forus
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 3nethra Forus does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– 3nethra Forus has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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.
Weaknesses Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm, in the dynamic environment 3nethra Forus has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. 3nethra Forus 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 3nethra Forus has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of 3nethra Forus is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. 3nethra Forus needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help 3nethra Forus to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though 3nethra Forus 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 - Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, 3nethra Forus 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 3nethra Forus is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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, Ramesh Narasimhan, M.V. Ravikumar, Nattuvathuckal Barnabas suggests that, 3nethra Forus 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at 3nethra Forus 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm HBR case study mentions - 3nethra Forus 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 3nethra Forus 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm | 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of 3nethra Forus has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help 3nethra Forus to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm case study. 3nethra Forus 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
– 3nethra Forus 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 3nethra Forus to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at 3nethra Forus 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. 3nethra Forus can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– 3nethra Forus 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for 3nethra Forus 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 3nethra Forus to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– 3nethra Forus 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 3nethra Forus can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– 3nethra Forus 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, 3nethra Forus 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, Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. 3nethra Forus 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. 3nethra Forus 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for 3nethra Forus 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– 3nethra Forus can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 3nethra Forus.
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. 3nethra Forus will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– 3nethra Forus 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. 3nethra Forus can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– 3nethra Forus 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that 3nethra Forus is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 3nethra Forus with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm, 3nethra Forus 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 .
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 3nethra Forus in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– 3nethra Forus 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.
Increasing wage structure of 3nethra Forus
– 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 3nethra Forus.
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. 3nethra Forus needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 Forus Health: Crossing the Disruptive Product Chasm 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 3nethra Forus needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
