Case Study Description of I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices
The head of sales and marketing in a large medical devices firm must decide how to assign his sales force. He compares selling in the pharma, specialty pharma, and device industries and analyzes the reasons for the differences.
Authors :: Regina E. Herzlinger, William Lagor, Christopher Perry, Scott St. Germain
Swot Analysis of "I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices" written by Regina E. Herzlinger, William Lagor, Christopher Perry, Scott St. Germain includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rhythm Pharma facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rhythm Pharma, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rhythm Pharma 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rhythm Pharma
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 Rhythm Pharma
Strengths I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rhythm Pharma in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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.
Learning organization
- Rhythm Pharma 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 Rhythm Pharma is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Rhythm Pharma
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rhythm Pharma does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Rhythm Pharma 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 Regina E. Herzlinger, William Lagor, Christopher Perry, Scott St. Germain 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Rhythm Pharma has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rhythm Pharma 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.
High brand equity
– Rhythm Pharma has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rhythm Pharma to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rhythm Pharma is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Rhythm Pharma in the sector have low bargaining power. I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rhythm Pharma to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Rhythm Pharma is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rhythm Pharma in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rhythm Pharma 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Rhythm Pharma is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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.
Weaknesses I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rhythm Pharma 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rhythm Pharma is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 Rhythm Pharma has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices HBR case study mentions - Rhythm Pharma 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 Rhythm Pharma 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Regina E. Herzlinger, William Lagor, Christopher Perry, Scott St. Germain suggests that, Rhythm Pharma 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rhythm Pharma is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rhythm Pharma 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, is just above the industry average. Rhythm Pharma 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rhythm Pharma, firm in the HBR case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices | 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Rhythm Pharma can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Rhythm Pharma 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rhythm Pharma 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rhythm Pharma 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.
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. Rhythm Pharma can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rhythm Pharma 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rhythm Pharma can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rhythm Pharma operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rhythm Pharma can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Rhythm Pharma 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rhythm Pharma can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Manufacturing automation
– Rhythm Pharma 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rhythm Pharma is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rhythm Pharma 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 Rhythm Pharma to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices are -
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. Rhythm Pharma needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rhythm Pharma 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.
Environmental challenges
– Rhythm Pharma 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. Rhythm Pharma can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Rhythm Pharma 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 .
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. Rhythm Pharma can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Rhythm Pharma.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rhythm Pharma has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rhythm Pharma 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rhythm Pharma with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rhythm Pharma 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.
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.
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 Rhythm Pharma business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Rhythm Pharma 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices 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 Rhythm Pharma needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
