Swot Analysis of "ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy" written by Josh Lerner, Peter Tufano includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Electro Alza facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Research & development and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Electro Alza, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Electro Alza 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Electro Alza
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Electro Alza
Strengths ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Electro Alza in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Electro Alza
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Electro Alza does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Electro Alza is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Electro Alza 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 Josh Lerner, Peter Tufano 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Electro Alza 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 Electro Alza in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Electro Alza is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Electro Alza 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.
Training and development
– Electro Alza has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Electro Alza to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Electro Alza to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Electro Alza 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 Electro Alza is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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.
High brand equity
– Electro Alza has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Electro Alza to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Electro Alza digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Electro Alza 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Electro Alza, firm in the HBR case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Electro Alza supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Electro Alza vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Electro Alza is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Electro Alza 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy HBR case study mentions - Electro Alza 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Electro Alza is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Electro Alza needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Electro Alza to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Electro Alza 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy, it seems that the employees of Electro Alza 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 Electro Alza has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 Electro Alza 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy | 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Electro Alza 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, ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Electro Alza 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Electro Alza can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Electro Alza 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. Electro Alza 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
– Electro Alza 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Electro Alza can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Electro Alza in the consumer business. Now Electro Alza can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Electro Alza 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 Electro Alza to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Electro Alza can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Electro Alza operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Electro Alza 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Electro Alza can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Electro Alza is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Electro Alza to increase its market reach. Electro Alza 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.
Threats ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy are -
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 Electro Alza business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Electro Alza
– 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 Electro Alza.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Electro Alza has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Electro Alza needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy, Electro Alza may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Electro Alza 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 Electro Alza.
Environmental challenges
– Electro Alza 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. Electro Alza can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Electro Alza 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Electro Alza can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Electro Alza 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Electro Alza 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Electro Alza is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Electro Alza in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (B1): Rights Offering Strategy 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 Electro Alza needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
