Case Study Description of Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response
Researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College had formed a company, Immuno-Genetics Inc., to develop new technologies to measure the immune response of dairy cows by using a blood test and skin thickness test on individual cows. Cows who showed a high immune response were unlikely to contract a number of common diseases. The test results thus allowed dairy producers to determine the likelihood of cows having health problems over their lifetimes. This information was valuable in managing a dairy herd to optimize performance and minimize health costs. Immuno-Genetics' early marketing research supported the launch of the technology, but an effective marketing strategy had to be developed. Immuno-Genetics had to determine who should be targeted, what products should be sold to each target, how the products should be priced, and what method of distribution to use. In addition, a promotional strategy needed to be developed for the product launch, and sales and profit projections needed to be made for the first two years of operations. Thomas Funk is affiliated with University of Guelph.
Swot Analysis of "Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response" written by Thomas Funk includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Immuno Cows facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Immuno Cows, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Immuno Cows 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Immuno Cows
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 Immuno Cows
Strengths Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Immuno Cows in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Immuno Cows is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Immuno Cows
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Immuno Cows does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Immuno Cows 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.
High brand equity
– Immuno Cows has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Immuno Cows to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Immuno Cows is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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
- Immuno Cows 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 Immuno Cows is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Immuno Cows 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 Immuno Cows digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Immuno Cows 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Immuno Cows in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Immuno Cows has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Immuno Cows 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Immuno Cows to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Immuno Cows to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas Funk suggests that, Immuno Cows 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Immuno Cows, firm in the HBR case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Immuno Cows is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Immuno Cows 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Immuno Cows is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Immuno Cows needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Immuno Cows to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Immuno Cows 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Immuno Cows 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno Cows 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Immuno Cows 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response, is just above the industry average. Immuno Cows 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, Immuno Cows is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response | 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Immuno Cows 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.
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. Immuno Cows 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. Immuno Cows 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Immuno Cows can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Immuno Cows can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Immuno Cows to increase its market reach. Immuno Cows 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Immuno Cows 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Immuno Cows 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.
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 Immuno Cows 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Immuno Cows 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.
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. Immuno Cows can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Immuno Cows 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.
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 Immuno Cows in the consumer business. Now Immuno Cows can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Immuno Cows has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Immuno Cows to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response case study. Immuno Cows can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Immuno Cows is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Immuno Cows needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Immuno Cows.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Immuno Cows 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.
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 Immuno Cows business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Immuno Cows
– 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 Immuno Cows.
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. Immuno Cows 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Immuno Cows 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Immuno Cows 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Immuno Cows 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response .
Regulatory challenges
– Immuno Cows 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.
Environmental challenges
– Immuno Cows 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. Immuno Cows can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno-Genetics Inc.: Technology for Predicting Immune Response 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 Immuno Cows needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
