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UCB (B): Growth Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of UCB (B): Growth Strategy


Supplements the (A) case.

Authors :: F. Warren McFarlan, Brian J. Delacey

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: IT, Operations management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "UCB (B): Growth Strategy" written by F. Warren McFarlan, Brian J. Delacey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ucb Supplements facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in UCB (B): Growth Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Operations management and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the UCB (B): Growth Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of UCB (B): Growth Strategy


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in UCB (B): Growth Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ucb Supplements, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ucb Supplements 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in UCB (B): Growth Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ucb Supplements
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 Ucb Supplements




Strengths UCB (B): Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Ucb Supplements in UCB (B): Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Ucb Supplements 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– UCB (B): Growth Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ucb Supplements to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ucb Supplements to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Ucb Supplements 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Ucb Supplements is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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.

Training and development

– Ucb Supplements has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Ucb Supplements 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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

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

Learning organization

- Ucb Supplements 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 Ucb Supplements is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in UCB (B): Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Ucb Supplements in the sector have low bargaining power. UCB (B): Growth Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ucb Supplements to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High brand equity

– Ucb Supplements has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ucb Supplements to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.






Weaknesses UCB (B): Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of UCB (B): Growth Strategy are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 Ucb Supplements 's lucrative customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy, 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As UCB (B): Growth Strategy HBR case study mentions - Ucb Supplements 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ucb Supplements has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy, it seems that the employees of Ucb Supplements 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Ucb Supplements has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 Ucb Supplements has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy, is just above the industry average. Ucb Supplements 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.

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 Ucb Supplements supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - UCB (B): Growth Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ucb Supplements vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ucb Supplements is planning to shift buying processes online.

Need for greater diversity

– Ucb Supplements has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.




Opportunities UCB (B): Growth Strategy | 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ucb Supplements 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Ucb Supplements 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Ucb Supplements 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.

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ucb Supplements 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. Ucb Supplements 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 Ucb Supplements to increase its market reach. Ucb Supplements 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Ucb Supplements has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ucb Supplements to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the UCB (B): Growth Strategy case study. Ucb Supplements can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Ucb Supplements 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.

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. Ucb Supplements can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Ucb Supplements can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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.

Increase in government spending

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ucb Supplements 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, UCB (B): Growth Strategy, 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy are -

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 Ucb Supplements in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Ucb Supplements 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study UCB (B): Growth Strategy, Ucb Supplements may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Ucb Supplements 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.

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 Ucb Supplements business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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. Ucb Supplements needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ucb Supplements 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ucb Supplements in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Ucb Supplements 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 Ucb Supplements.

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. Ucb Supplements can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Ucb Supplements is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Ucb Supplements has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ucb Supplements 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 UCB (B): Growth Strategy 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 Ucb Supplements needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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