BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India
Bristol Myers Squibb, a multi-national pharmaceutical company, is seeking to globalize its R&D strategy while managing costs. It has formed a joint venture with an Indian company, which has worked well, but now faces a strategic decision on how and whether to continue.
Authors :: Vicki L. Sato, Sen Chai, Rich Ballenger, Christine Chi
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Human resource management, International business, Internet, Joint ventures, Research & development, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India" written by Vicki L. Sato, Sen Chai, Rich Ballenger, Christine Chi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Squibb Bms facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, International business, Internet, Joint ventures, Research & development and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Squibb Bms, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Squibb Bms 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Squibb Bms
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 Squibb Bms
Strengths BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Squibb Bms in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Squibb Bms has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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
– Squibb Bms is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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)
– Squibb Bms 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Squibb Bms has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Squibb Bms 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Squibb Bms digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Squibb Bms 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Squibb Bms 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Squibb Bms 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Squibb Bms is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Squibb Bms is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Squibb Bms is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Squibb Bms in the sector have low bargaining power. BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Squibb Bms to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Vicki L. Sato, Sen Chai, Rich Ballenger, Christine Chi suggests that, Squibb Bms 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Squibb Bms 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Squibb Bms has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Squibb Bms 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 - BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 Squibb Bms has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Squibb Bms is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Squibb Bms supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Squibb Bms vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Squibb Bms 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 Squibb Bms 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Squibb Bms 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. Squibb Bms 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Squibb Bms, firm in the HBR case study BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India | 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Squibb Bms can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Squibb Bms operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Squibb Bms can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Squibb Bms can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Squibb Bms is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Squibb Bms 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Squibb Bms to increase its market reach. Squibb Bms 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Squibb Bms 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.
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. Squibb Bms 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. Squibb Bms 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Squibb Bms 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, BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Squibb Bms can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Squibb Bms 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Squibb Bms 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Squibb Bms 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Squibb Bms to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India are -
Regulatory challenges
– Squibb Bms 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Squibb Bms 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Squibb Bms 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.
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. Squibb Bms 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.
Environmental challenges
– Squibb Bms 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. Squibb Bms can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Squibb Bms 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India, Squibb Bms 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Squibb Bms 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India .
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Squibb Bms is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Squibb Bms 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.
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 Squibb Bms business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Squibb Bms in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India 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 Squibb Bms needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
