Case Study Description of Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta
Anticipating the expiration of its Prozac patent, Eli Lilly has to make tough decisions regarding the development of its next-generation antidepressant drug. In particular, the company needs to decide whether to first establish that once-a-day dosing for Cymbalta (Duloxetine) is effective in treating major depressive disorder and only after launch get FDA approval for treating painful physical symptoms, or to first establish efficacy in treating pain and later get FDA approval for once-a-day dosing. The decision needs to take into account how Cymbalta can be differentiated in the marketplace vis-a-vis other antidepressants and the marketing challenges to getting adoption that the new drug will face. Lilly's new antidepressant team making this decision has several market research inputs on physicians and patients at its disposal.
Swot Analysis of "Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta" written by Elie Ofek, Ron Laufer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cymbalta Treating facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Pricing, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cymbalta Treating, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cymbalta Treating 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cymbalta Treating
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 Cymbalta Treating
Strengths Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cymbalta Treating in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cymbalta Treating has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cymbalta Treating 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.
Learning organization
- Cymbalta Treating 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 Cymbalta Treating is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Cymbalta Treating 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 Cymbalta Treating in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cymbalta Treating to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cymbalta Treating to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Cymbalta Treating is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cymbalta Treating is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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.
High brand equity
– Cymbalta Treating has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cymbalta Treating to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cymbalta Treating digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cymbalta Treating 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.
Analytics focus
– Cymbalta Treating 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 Elie Ofek, Ron Laufer 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
– Cymbalta Treating 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cymbalta Treating 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cymbalta Treating in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elie Ofek, Ron Laufer suggests that, Cymbalta Treating 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Cymbalta Treating 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cymbalta Treating 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta HBR case study mentions - Cymbalta Treating 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cymbalta Treating 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 Cymbalta Treating is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Cymbalta Treating needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cymbalta Treating to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cymbalta Treating, firm in the HBR case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cymbalta Treating products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cymbalta Treating needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta, is just above the industry average. Cymbalta Treating 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta, in the dynamic environment Cymbalta Treating has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cymbalta Treating has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta | 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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. Cymbalta Treating 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 Cymbalta Treating 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cymbalta Treating 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cymbalta Treating 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cymbalta Treating can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Cymbalta Treating 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. Cymbalta Treating 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cymbalta Treating can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cymbalta Treating operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cymbalta Treating 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. Cymbalta Treating can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cymbalta Treating 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 Cymbalta Treating to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Cymbalta Treating in the consumer business. Now Cymbalta Treating can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cymbalta Treating 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cymbalta Treating to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cymbalta Treating 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.
Threats Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cymbalta Treating has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cymbalta Treating 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.
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. Cymbalta Treating 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cymbalta Treating 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cymbalta Treating 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.
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 Cymbalta Treating.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cymbalta Treating 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta .
Increasing wage structure of Cymbalta Treating
– 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 Cymbalta Treating.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cymbalta Treating is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Cymbalta Treating 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. Cymbalta Treating can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Cymbalta Treating business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Cymbalta Treating needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cymbalta Treating 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Eli Lilly: Developing Cymbalta 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 Cymbalta Treating needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.