Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain
Describes Myriad Genetics and its struggle to secure exclusive testing services for the BRCA gene. After Myriad obtained licensing rights and dissolved its U.S. competition, it turned its focus to Europe, specifically the United Kingdom. The U.K. National Health Service had made genetic testing available to the public and Myriad had to decide which course of action would be most effective in stopping British BRCA genetic testing and expanding Myriad's own service to this new market.
Authors :: Daniel Diermeier, Shobita Parthasarathy
Swot Analysis of "Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain" written by Daniel Diermeier, Shobita Parthasarathy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Myriad Testing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Growth strategy, Intellectual property, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Myriad Testing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Myriad Testing 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Myriad Testing
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 Myriad Testing
Strengths Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Myriad Testing in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Myriad Testing has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Myriad Testing to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Myriad Testing has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Myriad Testing is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Myriad Testing digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Myriad Testing 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.
Organizational Resilience of Myriad Testing
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Myriad Testing does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Myriad Testing 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Myriad Testing is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Myriad Testing 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 Myriad Testing in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Myriad Testing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Myriad Testing 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 Myriad Testing is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Myriad Testing 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Myriad Testing 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad Testing has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Myriad Testing 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 - Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Myriad Testing 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain, it seems that the employees of Myriad Testing 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Myriad Testing is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Myriad Testing 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad Testing 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain HBR case study mentions - Myriad Testing 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Myriad Testing is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Myriad Testing needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Myriad Testing to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Myriad Testing 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain, is just above the industry average. Myriad Testing 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.
Opportunities Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain | 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Myriad Testing 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Myriad Testing to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Myriad Testing 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.
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. Myriad Testing 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. Myriad Testing 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Myriad Testing can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Myriad Testing 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Myriad Testing 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 Myriad Testing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Myriad Testing is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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.
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. Myriad Testing can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Myriad Testing to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Myriad Testing 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Myriad Testing has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Myriad Testing to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain case study. Myriad Testing can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Myriad Testing 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Myriad Testing 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.
Threats Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Myriad Testing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Myriad Testing 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.
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 Myriad Testing.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain, Myriad Testing 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, Myriad Testing 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Myriad Testing 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Myriad Testing is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Myriad Testing 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.
Increasing wage structure of Myriad Testing
– 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 Myriad Testing.
Environmental challenges
– Myriad Testing 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. Myriad Testing can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Myriad Testing 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.
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. Myriad Testing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Myriad Testing needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Myriad Testing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad (A): Breast Cancer Testing in Britain 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 Myriad Testing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.