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Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History


Genzyme Corp.'s financing history is unusual compared to most biotech companies. This case presents the sequence of financings employed by Genzyme, along with the product--market and corporate-development strategies adopted by Henri Termeer, Genzyme's CEO. As such, the case permits students to evaluate the sequence of financings as a "program" rather than a series of unrelated deals and to consider them in light of the business strategy.

Authors :: Timothy A. Luehrman, Andrew D. Regan

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Financial management, Financial markets, Growth strategy, Marketing, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History" written by Timothy A. Luehrman, Andrew D. Regan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Genzyme Financings facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Financial markets, Growth strategy, Marketing and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History


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




Strengths Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Genzyme Financings in Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History Harvard Business Review case study are -

Strong track record of project management

– Genzyme Financings is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry

– Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Genzyme Financings to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Genzyme Financings to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Genzyme Financings 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Genzyme Financings is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Genzyme Financings 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.

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Innovation driven organization

– Genzyme Financings is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Genzyme Financings 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Analytics focus

– Genzyme Financings 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 Timothy A. Luehrman, Andrew D. Regan 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.

Learning organization

- Genzyme Financings 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 Genzyme Financings is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Genzyme Financings has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Genzyme Financings 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.






Weaknesses Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Genzyme Financings 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History, is just above the industry average. Genzyme Financings 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Timothy A. Luehrman, Andrew D. Regan suggests that, Genzyme Financings 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Genzyme Financings 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History, 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Genzyme Financings, firm in the HBR case study Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History, in the dynamic environment Genzyme Financings has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Genzyme Financings has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Lack of clear differentiation of Genzyme Financings products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Genzyme Financings needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

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 Genzyme Financings supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Genzyme Financings vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Genzyme Financings 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 - Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Financings has relatively successful track record of launching new products.




Opportunities Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History | 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History are -

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Genzyme Financings 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 Finance & Accounting segment.

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. Genzyme Financings can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Genzyme Financings can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Genzyme Financings operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.

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 Genzyme Financings 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Genzyme Financings 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Genzyme Financings 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, Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Buying journey improvements

– Genzyme Financings can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Genzyme Financings is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Genzyme Financings 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Genzyme Financings 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.

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 Genzyme Financings in the consumer business. Now Genzyme Financings can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Genzyme Financings has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Genzyme Financings to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History case study. Genzyme Financings can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Genzyme Financings can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.




Threats Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History are -

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. Genzyme Financings needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Genzyme Financings is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– Genzyme Financings 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.

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.

Increasing wage structure of Genzyme Financings

– 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 Genzyme Financings.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Genzyme Financings 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Genzyme Financings has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Genzyme Financings 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Genzyme Financings 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 Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Genzyme Financings can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

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

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. Genzyme Financings 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.

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 Genzyme Financings in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Corp.: A Financing History 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 Genzyme Financings needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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