Case Study Description of Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial
The head of clinical trials at Solnyx Pharmaceuticals had just been handed the results of a phase II trial of Atoxeril, a hypertension drug. Her task was to interpret these data in preparation for a meeting with her institutional review board and representatives of the Food and Drug Administration. This case introduces a number of concepts related to the analysis of clinical trials including dealing with missing data, ANOVA, regression and sample size calculations. Students will evaluate the design of the phase II clinical trial and interpret the trial results; they will also evaluate the implications of the angioedema incidence and how it might affect the design of a phase III trial.
Swot Analysis of "Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial" written by Gregory S. Zaric, James E. Hatch includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trial Clinical facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trial Clinical, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trial Clinical 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trial Clinical
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Trial Clinical
Strengths Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trial Clinical in Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Trial Clinical 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 Gregory S. Zaric, James E. Hatch 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Trial Clinical 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Trial Clinical in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Trial Clinical 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Trial Clinical is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Trial Clinical 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Trial Clinical has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Trial Clinical 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.
Organizational Resilience of Trial Clinical
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Trial Clinical does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Trial Clinical is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Trial Clinical to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Trial Clinical to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Trial Clinical 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 Trial Clinical is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gregory S. Zaric, James E. Hatch suggests that, Trial Clinical 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial, it seems that the employees of Trial Clinical 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 Trial Clinical, firm in the HBR case study Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Trial Clinical is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Trial Clinical needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Trial Clinical to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial HBR case study mentions - Trial Clinical takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Trial Clinical supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Trial Clinical vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Trial Clinical is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Trial Clinical has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Trial Clinical 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Trial Clinical has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial | 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trial Clinical 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Trial Clinical can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Trial Clinical 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 Trial Clinical to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Trial Clinical in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Trial Clinical is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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.
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 Trial Clinical 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Trial Clinical 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Trial Clinical 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Trial Clinical 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trial Clinical can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Trial Clinical can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Trial Clinical can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Trial Clinical 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, Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial are -
Regulatory challenges
– Trial Clinical 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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. Trial Clinical needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Trial Clinical has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Trial Clinical needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trial Clinical with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Trial Clinical
– 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 Trial Clinical.
Environmental challenges
– Trial Clinical 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. Trial Clinical can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Trial Clinical business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Trial Clinical 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Trial Clinical 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.
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 Trial Clinical.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Trial Clinical 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Trial Clinical can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Solnyx Pharmaceuticals: The Atoxeril Clinical Trial 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 Trial Clinical needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.