Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition
Yasuchika Hasegawa, president of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, had a vision to make Takeda a top tier company in oncology by 2015. In 2008, Takeda acquired Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a respected oncology company with annual sales of $528 million in 2007 and a promising pipeline of new drugs. Hasegawa and Millennium CEO Deborah Dunsire believed that it was critical to convey a consistent vision for the future of Millennium within Takeda and help Millennium employees feel positive about the company's future. Millennium would operate independently and become Takeda's "Center of Excellence in Oncology." This case explores the steps that Hasegawa took to successfully integrate Millennium. His priorities centered on retaining Millennium talent and addressing the friction that arose from two very different corporate cultures. He also used the opportunity to transform Takeda's risk averse culture into a more innovative and flexible one that would support Takeda becoming a truly global pharmaceutical company.
Authors :: Charles O'Reilly, Asaka Itoh, Hiromichi Kimura, Chris D Beaumont
Swot Analysis of "Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition" written by Charles O'Reilly, Asaka Itoh, Hiromichi Kimura, Chris D Beaumont includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Takeda Millennium facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Growth strategy, Mergers & acquisitions and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Takeda Millennium, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Takeda Millennium 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Takeda Millennium
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 Takeda Millennium
Strengths Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Takeda Millennium in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Takeda Millennium 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 Takeda Millennium in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Takeda Millennium is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Takeda Millennium has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Takeda Millennium to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Takeda Millennium digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Takeda Millennium 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Takeda Millennium is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Takeda Millennium is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Takeda Millennium is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Takeda Millennium has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Takeda Millennium 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Takeda Millennium 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Takeda Millennium 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Takeda Millennium in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Millennium has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition, 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Charles O'Reilly, Asaka Itoh, Hiromichi Kimura, Chris D Beaumont suggests that, Takeda Millennium 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Takeda Millennium 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. Takeda Millennium 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Takeda Millennium products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Takeda Millennium needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Takeda Millennium supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Takeda Millennium vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Takeda Millennium is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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, Takeda Millennium 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Takeda Millennium, firm in the HBR case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Takeda Millennium 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Takeda Millennium is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition | 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition are -
Buying journey improvements
– Takeda Millennium can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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.
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. Takeda Millennium can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Takeda Millennium 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Takeda Millennium 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Takeda Millennium is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Takeda Millennium 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, Takeda Millennium 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, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Takeda Millennium to increase its market reach. Takeda Millennium 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Takeda Millennium has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Takeda Millennium to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition case study. Takeda Millennium can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Takeda Millennium 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 Takeda Millennium to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Takeda Millennium 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. Takeda Millennium 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Takeda Millennium 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Takeda Millennium can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition are -
Increasing wage structure of Takeda Millennium
– 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 Takeda Millennium.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Takeda Millennium can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Takeda Millennium 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Takeda Millennium can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition, Takeda Millennium 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, Takeda Millennium 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Takeda Millennium demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Takeda Millennium 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.
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 Takeda Millennium business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Takeda Millennium is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Takeda Millennium.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (B): The Millennium Acquisition 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 Takeda Millennium needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.