Case Study Description of Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team
Describes Becton Dickinson's evolving attempt to develop products and strategies to meet worldwide competitive and market needs. Traces the evolution of a classic parent company-led product-market strategy to truly transnational product and strategy development. Explores the use of an integrative team as the organizational means of achieving global integration while preserving local flexibility.
Authors :: Christopher A. Bartlett, Kathleen Scharf
Swot Analysis of "Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team" written by Christopher A. Bartlett, Kathleen Scharf includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Becton Dickinson's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Creativity, International business, Product development and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Becton Dickinson's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Becton Dickinson's
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 Becton Dickinson's
Strengths Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Becton Dickinson's in Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Becton Dickinson's 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Becton Dickinson's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Becton Dickinson's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Becton Dickinson's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Becton Dickinson's 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 Christopher A. Bartlett, Kathleen Scharf 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
– Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Becton Dickinson's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Becton Dickinson's in the sector have low bargaining power. Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Becton Dickinson's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Becton Dickinson's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Becton Dickinson's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Becton Dickinson's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Becton Dickinson's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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.
Weaknesses Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Christopher A. Bartlett, Kathleen Scharf suggests that, Becton Dickinson's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Becton Dickinson's 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 - Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Becton Dickinson's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Becton Dickinson's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Becton Dickinson's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Becton Dickinson's, firm in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson's 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team, is just above the industry average. Becton Dickinson's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team HBR case study mentions - Becton Dickinson's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Becton Dickinson's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team | 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team are -
Buying journey improvements
– Becton Dickinson's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Becton Dickinson's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Becton Dickinson's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Becton Dickinson's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Becton Dickinson's 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, Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Becton Dickinson's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Becton Dickinson's 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.
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. Becton Dickinson's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Becton Dickinson's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Becton Dickinson's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Becton Dickinson's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Becton Dickinson's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team case study. Becton Dickinson's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Becton Dickinson's to increase its market reach. Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson's in the consumer business. Now Becton Dickinson's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team are -
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 Becton Dickinson's.
Regulatory challenges
– Becton Dickinson's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Becton Dickinson's
– 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 Becton Dickinson's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Becton Dickinson's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Becton Dickinson's is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Becton Dickinson's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Becton Dickinson's 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. Becton Dickinson's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Becton Dickinson's 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.
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. Becton Dickinson's 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 Becton Dickinson's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team 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 Becton Dickinson's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
