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Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action


Describes the results of the advertising pre-test described in the (A) case. The group must now decide how to implement its findings for maximum impact.

Authors :: V. Kasturi Rangan, Jennifer Lawrence

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Currency, Marketing, Social enterprise, Strategy execution, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action" written by V. Kasturi Rangan, Jennifer Lawrence includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fights Converting facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Currency, Marketing, Social enterprise, Strategy execution and Sales & Marketing.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fights Converting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fights Converting
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 Fights Converting




Strengths Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Fights Converting in Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action Harvard Business Review case study are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Learning organization

- Fights Converting 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 Fights Converting is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Fights Converting 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 Fights Converting in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fights Converting digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fights Converting 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry

– Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fights Converting to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fights Converting to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Strong track record of project management

– Fights Converting 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

– Fights Converting 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 Fights Converting in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Fights Converting has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fights Converting to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Fights Converting is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.






Weaknesses Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Fights Converting 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fights Converting is planning to shift buying processes online.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Fights Converting has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Fights Converting 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Fights Converting 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action, 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Fights Converting has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fights Converting 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 decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fights Converting 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. Fights Converting 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fights Converting is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, V. Kasturi Rangan, Jennifer Lawrence suggests that, Fights Converting 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.




Opportunities Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action | 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action are -

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Fights Converting 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fights Converting to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fights Converting to increase its market reach. Fights Converting 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fights Converting can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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. Fights Converting 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. Fights Converting 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fights Converting 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Fights Converting can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Loyalty marketing

– Fights Converting 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fights Converting 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Fights Converting 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Fights Converting has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fights Converting to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action case study. Fights Converting can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fights Converting 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 Fights Converting to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fights Converting 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.




Threats Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Fights Converting has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fights Converting 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.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

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. Fights Converting 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

– Fights Converting 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

– Fights Converting 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Fights Converting 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.

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 Fights Converting in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Fights Converting 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fights Converting 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.

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. Fights Converting 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fights Converting 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. Fights Converting 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Boston Fights Drugs (B): Converting Research to Action 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 Fights Converting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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