Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants
A local Philippine toothpaste manufacturer, Lamoiyan Corp., faces the challenge of staying competitive against entrenched multinational giants. The company has managed to capture, at its peak, 20% of the Philippine toothpaste market and has become the number three Philippine toothpaste producer, after Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever. However, as competition will soon intensify in the region as a result of decreasing trade barriers, Cecilio Petro, president of Lamoiyan Corp., needs to decide how to grow his company and keep it competitive. Going public, expanding channel penetration, developing new products, and expanding internationally are all strategies Pedro considers, but each move is costly and time consuming. Pedro, an optimistic, dedicated entrepreneur, must assess the best way to ensure Lamoiyan's future success.
Swot Analysis of "Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants" written by Peter J. Coughlan, Jennifer L. Illes includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lamoiyan Toothpaste facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lamoiyan Toothpaste, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lamoiyan Toothpaste
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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste
Strengths Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lamoiyan Toothpaste in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Lamoiyan Toothpaste
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lamoiyan Toothpaste does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Analytics focus
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Peter J. Coughlan, Jennifer L. Illes 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
- Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lamoiyan Toothpaste to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lamoiyan Toothpaste to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants - 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lamoiyan Toothpaste is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Lamoiyan Toothpaste needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lamoiyan Toothpaste to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter J. Coughlan, Jennifer L. Illes suggests that, Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 - Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants, it seems that the employees of Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lamoiyan Toothpaste, firm in the HBR case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants, in the dynamic environment Lamoiyan Toothpaste has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lamoiyan Toothpaste has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lamoiyan Toothpaste is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Lamoiyan Toothpaste vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Lamoiyan Toothpaste products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Lamoiyan Toothpaste needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants | 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
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. Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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. Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
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. Lamoiyan Toothpaste can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lamoiyan Toothpaste can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lamoiyan Toothpaste has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lamoiyan Toothpaste to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants case study. Lamoiyan Toothpaste can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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, Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lamoiyan Toothpaste to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Lamoiyan Toothpaste to increase its market reach. Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Threats Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
Increasing wage structure of Lamoiyan Toothpaste
– 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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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. Lamoiyan Toothpaste can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants, Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lamoiyan Toothpaste 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.
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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Corp. of the Philippines: Challenging Multinational Giants 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 Lamoiyan Toothpaste needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
