Case Study Description of Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R)
In May 1999, the Moon Shot team gathered to review the results of a $54.4 million direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad campaign. Moon Shot was a cross-functional team at Zeneca Inc., a pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and specialty products company. The ad campaign was to promote the use of the drug Nolvadexa (Zeneca's brand name for Tamoxifen Citrate) for use in reducing the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk, an estimated 9 million women in the United States. Details Zeneca's development of Tamoxifen and how the company marketed the drug. Focuses on Zeneca's DTC prescription drug advertising campaign and the issues that campaign raised.
Authors :: Margaret L. Eaton, Jason Ehrlich, Naveen Chopra
Swot Analysis of "Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R)" written by Margaret L. Eaton, Jason Ehrlich, Naveen Chopra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Zeneca's Tamoxifen facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zeneca's Tamoxifen, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zeneca's Tamoxifen
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen
Strengths Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zeneca's Tamoxifen in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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.
Training and development
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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.
Analytics focus
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Margaret L. Eaton, Jason Ehrlich, Naveen Chopra 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.
Organizational Resilience of Zeneca's Tamoxifen
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Zeneca's Tamoxifen does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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
– Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zeneca's Tamoxifen to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zeneca's Tamoxifen to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Zeneca's Tamoxifen in the sector have low bargaining power. Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zeneca's Tamoxifen to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Zeneca's Tamoxifen digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Weaknesses Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Zeneca's Tamoxifen is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Zeneca's Tamoxifen needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zeneca's Tamoxifen to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Zeneca's Tamoxifen, firm in the HBR case study Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Zeneca's Tamoxifen vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 - Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Zeneca's Tamoxifen products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Zeneca's Tamoxifen needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R), it seems that the employees of Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R), in the dynamic environment Zeneca's Tamoxifen has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Zeneca's Tamoxifen has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) | 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) are -
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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Zeneca's Tamoxifen is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zeneca's Tamoxifen to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Zeneca's Tamoxifen to increase its market reach. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen in the consumer business. Now Zeneca's Tamoxifen can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Threats Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) are -
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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Zeneca's Tamoxifen business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Zeneca's Tamoxifen
– 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Zeneca's Tamoxifen with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
