Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product
The senior director of marketing for Strength Pharma, an Indian sports nutrition company, was managing the November 2016 launch of the company's whey protein supplement, Muscle-RDX. This product would be the first protein supplement approved by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India for athletes who participated in high-endurance sports. Muscle-RDX would provide a domestic option for Indian athletes who competed in these sports and who wanted to purchase affordable supplements that delivered effective results. However, before the product launch, the senior director of marketing needed to develop demand forecasts, which would determine the most appropriate pricing strategy and package size for the new product. Prem Dewani is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. Achint Nigam is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Lucknow.
Swot Analysis of "Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product" written by Prem Dewani, Achint Nigam includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rdx Muscle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rdx Muscle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rdx Muscle
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 Rdx Muscle
Strengths Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rdx Muscle in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rdx Muscle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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
– Rdx Muscle is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Rdx Muscle 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 Rdx Muscle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rdx Muscle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rdx Muscle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Rdx Muscle in the sector have low bargaining power. Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rdx Muscle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Rdx Muscle 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 Prem Dewani, Achint Nigam 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Rdx Muscle is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Rdx Muscle 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 Rdx Muscle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rdx Muscle 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rdx Muscle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Rdx Muscle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Rdx Muscle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rdx Muscle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product, it seems that the employees of Rdx Muscle 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rdx Muscle, firm in the HBR case study Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product, is just above the industry average. Rdx Muscle 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rdx Muscle 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. Rdx Muscle 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rdx Muscle 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product HBR case study mentions - Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rdx Muscle 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Rdx Muscle 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product, in the dynamic environment Rdx Muscle has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Rdx Muscle has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product | 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product are -
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. Rdx Muscle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rdx Muscle 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rdx Muscle to increase its market reach. Rdx Muscle 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rdx Muscle to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rdx Muscle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Rdx Muscle can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rdx Muscle 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.
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. Rdx Muscle 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. Rdx Muscle 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Rdx Muscle 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 Rdx Muscle 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Rdx Muscle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rdx Muscle to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product case study. Rdx Muscle can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rdx Muscle 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.
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. Rdx Muscle can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rdx Muscle 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.
Environmental challenges
– Rdx Muscle 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. Rdx Muscle can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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 Rdx Muscle 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 Rdx Muscle 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, Rdx Muscle 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product .
Regulatory challenges
– Rdx Muscle 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.
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. Rdx Muscle needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rdx Muscle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rdx Muscle 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rdx Muscle high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rdx Muscle with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Rdx Muscle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Rdx Muscle business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Muscle-RDX: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting for a New Product 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 Rdx Muscle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.