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 - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, 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 -

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.

Learning organization

- Neglected Diseases 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 Neglected Diseases is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, 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.

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.

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.

Analytics focus

– Neglected Diseases 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 Michael Rouse, Chander Sehgal 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.

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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Neglected Diseases in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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.

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.

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.

Organizational Resilience of Neglected Diseases

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Neglected Diseases does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

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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 -

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 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Neglected Diseases 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 GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), is just above the industry average. Neglected Diseases 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Neglected Diseases needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Neglected Diseases, firm in the HBR case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), in the dynamic environment Neglected Diseases has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Neglected Diseases has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Neglected Diseases 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.

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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 -

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Neglected Diseases has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Neglected Diseases to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) case study. Neglected Diseases can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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.

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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Neglected Diseases 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, GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B), 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. Neglected Diseases can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for 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.

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Neglected Diseases can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. GSK's Andrew Witty: Addressing Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Issues - "Open Labs, Open Minds" (B) 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Neglected Diseases 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.

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.

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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Neglected Diseases 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.

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 Neglected Diseases in the consumer business. Now Neglected Diseases can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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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 -

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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Neglected Diseases 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.

Increasing wage structure of Neglected Diseases

– 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 Neglected Diseases.

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.

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.

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. Neglected Diseases 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.

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 Neglected Diseases business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

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.

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 Neglected Diseases.

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.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Neglected Diseases has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Neglected Diseases 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.

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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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