Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa
Roger Osayende, a former management consultant, must advise the Ministry of Health of Ektu, a fictional country in Central Africa, on how to implement a new point-of-care diagnostic test for infants with HIV. In Ektu, mothers often transmitted HIV infection to infants during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding due to inadequate resources to invest in prevention efforts. The existing procedure to diagnose infants with HIV required collecting dried blood samples at more than two hundred healthcare facilities around the country and transporting them to a central laboratory in the capital for testing. This process was characterized by significant delays due to long transportation times, batching of samples in transportation and processing in the lab, and concomitant congestion in the lab. This delay resulted in loss to follow-up, that is, lost patients due to mothers not collecting their infants' results. A new point-of-care device was about to be introduced, which would obviate the need for this centralized processing and the resulting diagnostic delay. The key decision under consideration is where to place the devices to maximize their effectiveness.
Authors :: Sarang Deo, Avidan Ben Har, Bill Shields, Mihir Naware
Swot Analysis of "Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa" written by Sarang Deo, Avidan Ben Har, Bill Shields, Mihir Naware includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Infants Hiv facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy, Supply chain and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Infants Hiv, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Infants Hiv 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Infants Hiv
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Infants Hiv
Strengths Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Infants Hiv in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Infants Hiv digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Infants Hiv 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Infants Hiv has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Infants Hiv 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Infants Hiv to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Infants Hiv to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Infants Hiv in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Infants Hiv has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Infants Hiv is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Infants Hiv has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Infants Hiv to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Infants Hiv 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 Sarang Deo, Avidan Ben Har, Bill Shields, Mihir Naware 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Infants Hiv 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Infants Hiv is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Infants Hiv 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Infants Hiv 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. Infants Hiv 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infants Hiv 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Infants Hiv 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Infants Hiv 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 - Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Infants Hiv is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa HBR case study mentions - Infants Hiv 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Infants Hiv 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.
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 Infants Hiv supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Infants Hiv vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Infants Hiv 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Infants Hiv 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, is just above the industry average. Infants Hiv 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.
Opportunities Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa | 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
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 Infants Hiv in the consumer business. Now Infants Hiv can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Infants Hiv 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, Infants Hiv is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Infants Hiv 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Infants Hiv 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Infants Hiv 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. Infants Hiv can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Infants Hiv 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 Infants Hiv has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Infants Hiv to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa case study. Infants Hiv can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Infants Hiv can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Infants Hiv can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Infants Hiv operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Infants Hiv 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Infants Hiv to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Infants Hiv 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Threats Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Infants Hiv 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Infants Hiv 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Infants Hiv 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa .
Environmental challenges
– Infants Hiv 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. Infants Hiv can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Infants Hiv.
Increasing wage structure of Infants Hiv
– 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 Infants Hiv.
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. Infants Hiv needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Infants Hiv 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, Infants Hiv may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Infants Hiv can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Infants Hiv is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Infants Hiv 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Infants Hiv needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
