GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B)

In January 2010, Andrew Witty realized that the Pharmaceutical Patent Pool in and of itself was insufficient to generate action on neglected tropical diseases. He announced, therefore the "Open Labs, Open Minds" strategy. Was this enough to encourage action for neglected diseases affecting the world's poorest? How would GSK's shareholders react?

Authors :: Michael Rouse, Chander Sehgal

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Business models, Corporate governance, International business, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B)" written by Michael Rouse, Chander Sehgal includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Neglected Diseases facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Corporate governance, International business, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B)

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Neglected Diseases, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Neglected Diseases 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Neglected Diseases
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 Neglected Diseases

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Strengths GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Neglected Diseases in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Neglected Diseases 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Neglected Diseases is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Neglected Diseases 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management

– Neglected Diseases is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Neglected Diseases 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Neglected Diseases in the sector have low bargaining power. GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Neglected Diseases to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Neglected Diseases has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Neglected Diseases 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Neglected Diseases is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Neglected Diseases to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Neglected Diseases to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Neglected Diseases 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Training and development

– Neglected Diseases has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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.

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Weaknesses GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 Neglected Diseases has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Lack of clear differentiation of Neglected Diseases products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Neglected Diseases needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Neglected Diseases 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 - GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Neglected Diseases 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. Neglected Diseases 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.

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 Neglected Diseases supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Neglected Diseases vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Rouse, Chander Sehgal suggests that, Neglected Diseases 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Neglected Diseases 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), it seems that the employees of Neglected Diseases 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Neglected Diseases is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Neglected Diseases needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Neglected Diseases to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 Neglected Diseases 's lucrative customers.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Neglected Diseases is planning to shift buying processes online.

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Opportunities GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) | 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Neglected Diseases 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Neglected Diseases can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Neglected Diseases 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. Neglected Diseases 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Neglected Diseases can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Neglected Diseases operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Neglected Diseases 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Neglected Diseases 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Neglected Diseases 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Neglected Diseases is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Developing new processes and practices

– Neglected Diseases 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Neglected Diseases 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 Neglected Diseases to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Neglected Diseases to increase its market reach. Neglected Diseases 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Neglected Diseases 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Neglected Diseases to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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 Neglected Diseases 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.

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Threats GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Neglected Diseases 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Neglected Diseases 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. Neglected Diseases can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Neglected Diseases 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.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Neglected Diseases 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.

Environmental challenges

– Neglected Diseases 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. Neglected Diseases can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Neglected Diseases with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), Neglected Diseases 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 .

Regulatory challenges

– Neglected Diseases 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.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Neglected Diseases in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Neglected Diseases 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) .

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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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 Neglected Diseases needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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