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 - – geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, 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 -
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.
High brand equity
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Zeneca's Tamoxifen to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Zeneca's Tamoxifen has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
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 -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) HBR case study mentions - Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R), 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 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.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Margaret L. Eaton, Jason Ehrlich, Naveen Chopra suggests that, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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. Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Zeneca's Tamoxifen has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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.
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.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Zeneca's Tamoxifen can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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, Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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 Zeneca's Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R) .
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zeneca's Tamoxifen needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Zeneca's Tamoxifen 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.
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 Zeneca's Tamoxifen.
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.
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.
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.