Case Study Description of Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare
The Vibrance Kegel Device (VKD) was an intra-vaginal device that helped women correctly identify and strengthen their pelvic floor muscles to prevent and improve health issues related to urinary incontinence, back pain, and sexual dysfunction. The VKD was owned and marketed by Bioinfinity, a three-person, start-up company based in Malaysia. Despite being an innovative and award-winning product, its marketing strategy was challenging as its target market was Malaysian women, the majority of whom were conservative and uncomfortable with discussing these types of medical issues. As a result, educating women and developing product awareness had been a struggle. Bioinfinity's market development director needed to think of ways to grow the business. He was also contemplating whether the VKD was ready to compete in established markets such as Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Doreen Kum is affiliated with NUS Business School.
Swot Analysis of "Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare" written by Doreen Kum includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vkd Kegel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Research & development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vkd Kegel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vkd Kegel 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vkd Kegel
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 Vkd Kegel
Strengths Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vkd Kegel in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Vkd Kegel 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 Doreen Kum 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vkd Kegel 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vkd Kegel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vkd Kegel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vkd Kegel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Vkd Kegel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Learning organization
- Vkd Kegel 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 Vkd Kegel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Vkd Kegel 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Vkd Kegel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Vkd Kegel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Vkd Kegel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vkd Kegel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vkd Kegel 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Vkd Kegel in the sector have low bargaining power. Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Vkd Kegel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Vkd Kegel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare are -
Need for greater diversity
– Vkd Kegel has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare, in the dynamic environment Vkd Kegel has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Vkd Kegel has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vkd Kegel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare, it seems that the employees of Vkd Kegel 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare, is just above the industry average. Vkd Kegel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vkd Kegel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Vkd Kegel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vkd Kegel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Doreen Kum suggests that, Vkd Kegel 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Vkd Kegel 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare HBR case study mentions - Vkd Kegel 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Vkd Kegel 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. Vkd Kegel 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare, 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.
Opportunities Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare | 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare are -
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. Vkd Kegel 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. Vkd Kegel 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Vkd Kegel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vkd Kegel 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, Vkd Kegel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vkd Kegel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vkd Kegel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Vkd Kegel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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.
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. Vkd Kegel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Vkd Kegel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Vkd Kegel 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Vkd Kegel can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Vkd Kegel to increase its market reach. Vkd Kegel 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vkd Kegel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Vkd Kegel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare case study. Vkd Kegel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Vkd Kegel 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.
Threats Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Vkd Kegel 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
– Vkd Kegel 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 Vkd Kegel 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vkd Kegel is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Vkd Kegel in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vkd Kegel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vkd Kegel 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Vkd Kegel 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare .
Increasing wage structure of Vkd Kegel
– 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 Vkd Kegel.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Vkd Kegel 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
– Vkd Kegel 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. Vkd Kegel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vkd Kegel 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.
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. Vkd Kegel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vibrance Kegel Device: Capturing Mindshare 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 Vkd Kegel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.