Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A)
In 2014, Pfizer proposed a friendly acquisition of AstraZeneca, but the AstraZeneca board resisted over price and strategy concerns. Was this good for pharmaceutical consumers? Pfizer, like pharmaceutical companies in general, faced difficulties in growing sales due to the challenges of developing new drugs. Over the previous decade or more, Pfizer had pursued acquisitions as a way to acquire new drugs, increase sales, and to reduce costs by combining operations and cutting staff. Pfizer, a U.S. company, was also interested in AstraZeneca, a U.K. company, as a way to reduce its corporate taxes. In recent years, AstraZeneca had significantly strengthened its pipeline of potential new drugs and its board felt it was in a strong position to go it alone. The company's CEO also indicated that an acquisition would be disruptive to its drug development efforts and delay new drugs coming to market. U.K. politicians expressed concerns over downsizing and job losses in the economically important pharmaceutical sector. The case allows readers to explore who benefits from a potential acquisition (shareholders, employees, drug consumers) and which of these stakeholders should be considered when deciding on an acquisition.
Swot Analysis of "Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A)" written by John A. Quelch, James Weber includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Astrazeneca Pfizer facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Government, Health, Marketing, Mergers & acquisitions and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Astrazeneca Pfizer, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Astrazeneca Pfizer
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer
Strengths Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Astrazeneca Pfizer in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Astrazeneca Pfizer is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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
- Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Astrazeneca Pfizer is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Astrazeneca Pfizer digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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
– Astrazeneca Pfizer has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Astrazeneca Pfizer is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Astrazeneca Pfizer is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Astrazeneca Pfizer in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Astrazeneca Pfizer to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Astrazeneca Pfizer to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 John A. Quelch, James Weber 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Astrazeneca Pfizer is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Astrazeneca Pfizer vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A), in the dynamic environment Astrazeneca Pfizer has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Astrazeneca Pfizer has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A), 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 - Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A), is just above the industry average. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Astrazeneca Pfizer is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Astrazeneca Pfizer is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Astrazeneca Pfizer is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Astrazeneca Pfizer needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Astrazeneca Pfizer to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Astrazeneca Pfizer products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Astrazeneca Pfizer needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) | 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Astrazeneca Pfizer is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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.
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer in the consumer business. Now Astrazeneca Pfizer can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Astrazeneca Pfizer can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Astrazeneca Pfizer can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Astrazeneca Pfizer has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Astrazeneca Pfizer to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) case study. Astrazeneca Pfizer can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Astrazeneca Pfizer can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Astrazeneca Pfizer 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, Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A), 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. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Astrazeneca Pfizer to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Threats Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Astrazeneca Pfizer with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Astrazeneca Pfizer is facing in Sales & Marketing 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 Astrazeneca Pfizer in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer.
Environmental challenges
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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. Astrazeneca Pfizer can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Astrazeneca Pfizer 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. Astrazeneca Pfizer needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Astrazeneca Pfizer 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) .
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. Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
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 Astrazeneca Pfizer business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Astrazeneca Pfizer 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A) 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 Astrazeneca Pfizer needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.