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Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

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

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Policy, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc



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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 -

Innovation driven organization

– Infants Hiv is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

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.

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.

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.

Organizational Resilience of Infants Hiv

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Infants Hiv does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

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.

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.

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.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

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

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.

Strong track record of project management

– Infants Hiv 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 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.






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 to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Infants Hiv is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

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 bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sarang Deo, Avidan Ben Har, Bill Shields, Mihir Naware suggests that, Infants Hiv 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, it seems that the employees of Infants Hiv 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the dynamic environment Infants Hiv has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Infants Hiv has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Infants Hiv, firm in the HBR case study Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.




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 -

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Infants Hiv can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Better consumer reach

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

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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Infants Hiv 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, Infant HIV Diagnostics: Supply Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Infants Hiv 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. Infants Hiv 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Infants Hiv can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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




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 -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Infants Hiv with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Infants Hiv has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Infants Hiv needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Infants Hiv in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline 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 Infants Hiv in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.

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 .

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.

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 .

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.

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 Infants Hiv business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.




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.



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