Swot Analysis of "Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal" written by Jay O. Light, Anthony Massaro includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Laparoscopic Intuitive facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Laparoscopic Intuitive, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Laparoscopic Intuitive
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 Laparoscopic Intuitive
Strengths Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Laparoscopic Intuitive in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Laparoscopic Intuitive in the sector have low bargaining power. Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Laparoscopic Intuitive to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Laparoscopic Intuitive has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Jay O. Light, Anthony Massaro 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
- Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Laparoscopic Intuitive has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
High brand equity
– Laparoscopic Intuitive has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Laparoscopic Intuitive to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Laparoscopic Intuitive is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Laparoscopic Intuitive to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Laparoscopic Intuitive to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Laparoscopic Intuitive is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Laparoscopic Intuitive, firm in the HBR case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 - Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Laparoscopic Intuitive products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Laparoscopic Intuitive needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal, in the dynamic environment Laparoscopic Intuitive has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Laparoscopic Intuitive has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal, it seems that the employees of Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Laparoscopic Intuitive is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Opportunities Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal | 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal are -
Loyalty marketing
– Laparoscopic Intuitive has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Laparoscopic Intuitive can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Laparoscopic Intuitive has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Laparoscopic Intuitive to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal case study. Laparoscopic Intuitive can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Laparoscopic Intuitive 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
– Laparoscopic Intuitive can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Laparoscopic Intuitive can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Laparoscopic Intuitive to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Laparoscopic Intuitive is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Laparoscopic Intuitive can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Laparoscopic Intuitive to increase its market reach. Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
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 Laparoscopic Intuitive in the consumer business. Now Laparoscopic Intuitive can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Threats Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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. Laparoscopic Intuitive needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal .
Increasing wage structure of Laparoscopic Intuitive
– 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Laparoscopic Intuitive has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal, Laparoscopic Intuitive 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Laparoscopic Intuitive with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Laparoscopic Intuitive 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. Laparoscopic Intuitive can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Laparoscopic Intuitive 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Intuitive Surgical: Negotiating the Deal 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 Laparoscopic Intuitive needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
