Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene
Personalized medicine requires the identification of mutated genes. Schering-Plough's search for the one related to asthma requires finding families with the disease. Examines the industry that helps conduct such research, including contract research organizations.
Swot Analysis of "Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene" written by Regina E. Herzlinger, Marc Aquino includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Asthma Schering facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Asthma Schering, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Asthma Schering
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 Asthma Schering
Strengths Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Asthma Schering in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Asthma Schering 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 Asthma Schering in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Asthma Schering digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Asthma Schering 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Asthma Schering in the sector have low bargaining power. Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Asthma Schering to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Asthma Schering has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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.
Analytics focus
– Asthma Schering 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 Regina E. Herzlinger, Marc Aquino can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Asthma Schering is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Asthma Schering is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Asthma Schering 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Asthma Schering 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Asthma Schering is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Asthma Schering in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Asthma Schering, firm in the HBR case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Asthma Schering has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Asthma Schering 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene, in the dynamic environment Asthma Schering has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene HBR case study mentions - Asthma Schering 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 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 Asthma Schering supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Asthma Schering vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene, it seems that the employees of Asthma Schering don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Asthma Schering 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene, is just above the industry average. Asthma Schering 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Asthma Schering is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Asthma Schering has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene | 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Asthma Schering 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 Asthma Schering to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Asthma Schering in the consumer business. Now Asthma Schering can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Asthma Schering 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. Asthma Schering 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Asthma Schering is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Asthma Schering 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Asthma Schering 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Asthma Schering 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
– Asthma Schering can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Asthma Schering 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
– Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Asthma Schering to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Asthma Schering to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Asthma Schering 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Asthma Schering 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.
Threats Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Asthma Schering 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Asthma Schering with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Asthma Schering 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Asthma Schering 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.
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. Asthma Schering needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Asthma Schering
– 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 Asthma Schering.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Asthma Schering is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Asthma Schering can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Asthma Schering 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Asthma Schering 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene .
Environmental challenges
– Asthma Schering 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. Asthma Schering can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Asthma Schering has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Asthma Schering 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene, Asthma Schering 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Schering-Plough and Genome Therapeutics: Discovering an Asthma Gene 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 Asthma Schering needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.