Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed)
In August 2002, the FDA had notified the executive steering committee for Abbott Laboratories' new rheumatoid arthritis drug to expect approval significantly ahead of schedule. If everything went smoothly, the compound D2E7 (brand name HUMIRA) would be approved for sale in the United States before the end of the year. This gave Abbott and its HUMIRA brand team no more than four months to complete preparations for the product's launch. Abbott acquired D2E7, a biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, when the company purchased Knoll Pharmaceuticals in March 2001. With a significant head start and combined 2002 sales anticipated to exceed $2 billion, Enbrel (from Immunex, later acquired by Amgen) and Remicade (from the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Centocor) would provide HUMIRA with tough competition. Yet, with the rheumatoid arthritis market expected to grow to over $7.5 billion by 2008, there was still a significant opportunity for Abbott. The executive steering committee knew that the HUMIRA team would have to orchestrate every aspect of the product's global launch carefully to quickly and effectively establish HUMIRA in this challenging market.
Authors :: Stefanos Zenios, Robert Chess, Lyn Denend
Swot Analysis of "Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed)" written by Stefanos Zenios, Robert Chess, Lyn Denend includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Humira Abbott facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Government, Marketing, Product development and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Humira Abbott, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Humira Abbott 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Humira Abbott
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 Humira Abbott
Strengths Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Humira Abbott in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Humira Abbott is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Humira Abbott in the sector have low bargaining power. Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Humira Abbott to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Humira Abbott 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Humira Abbott
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Humira Abbott does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Humira Abbott has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Humira Abbott to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Humira Abbott 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 Humira Abbott in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Humira Abbott has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Humira Abbott has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Humira Abbott 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Humira Abbott is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Humira Abbott digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Humira Abbott 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Humira Abbott in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Humira Abbott is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Humira Abbott has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Humira Abbott 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed), in the dynamic environment Humira Abbott has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Humira Abbott has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) HBR case study mentions - Humira Abbott 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Humira Abbott 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Humira Abbott 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 Humira Abbott products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Humira Abbott needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Humira Abbott 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 - Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stefanos Zenios, Robert Chess, Lyn Denend suggests that, Humira Abbott 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 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 Humira Abbott supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Humira Abbott vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) | 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Humira Abbott 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, Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Humira Abbott can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Humira Abbott can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Humira Abbott operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Humira Abbott 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Humira Abbott to increase its market reach. Humira Abbott 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Humira Abbott 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Humira Abbott can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Humira Abbott has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Humira Abbott to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) case study. Humira Abbott can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Humira Abbott can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Humira Abbott 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 Humira Abbott to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Humira Abbott 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Humira Abbott 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Humira Abbott can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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.
Threats Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) are -
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. Humira Abbott 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed), Humira Abbott 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 .
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, Humira Abbott 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) .
Regulatory challenges
– Humira Abbott 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.
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 Humira Abbott business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Humira Abbott has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Humira Abbott 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Humira Abbott 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.
Environmental challenges
– Humira Abbott 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. Humira Abbott can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Humira Abbott 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.
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. Humira Abbott can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Humira Abbott.
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. Humira Abbott needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Abbott Laboratories and HUMIRA: Launching a Blockbuster Drug (Condensed) 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 Humira Abbott needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
