Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability
Hygiene and You, an Indian entrepreneurial venture, retailed sustainable menstrual products such as menstrual cups and cloth pads. In December 2017, the business was not making profits because of slow growth and increasing competition in the sustainable menstrual product industry. Menstruation was a taboo topic in India and associated with deep-seated socio-cultural beliefs that severely inhibited marketing communication. In India, 88 per cent of menstruating women still used unhygienic menstrual products, and the Indian government actively promoted disposable sanitary napkins to encourage women to shift to a hygienic alternative. The company's founder had to decide on expansion strategies to make the business profitable while passionately advocating sustainable menstruation practices. Meenakshi Nagarajan is affiliated with International Management Institute-New Delhi.
Swot Analysis of "Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability" written by Meenakshi Nagarajan, Sandhya Rao includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Menstrual Menstruation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Menstrual Menstruation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Menstrual Menstruation 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Menstrual Menstruation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Menstrual Menstruation
Strengths Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Menstrual Menstruation in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Menstrual Menstruation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Menstrual Menstruation has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Diverse revenue streams
– Menstrual Menstruation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Menstrual Menstruation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Menstrual Menstruation in the sector have low bargaining power. Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Menstrual Menstruation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Menstrual Menstruation to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Menstrual Menstruation to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Menstrual Menstruation is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Menstrual Menstruation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Menstrual Menstruation has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Meenakshi Nagarajan, Sandhya Rao 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.
Organizational Resilience of Menstrual Menstruation
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Menstrual Menstruation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Weaknesses Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, is just above the industry average. Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability HBR case study mentions - Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Menstrual Menstruation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Menstrual Menstruation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Menstrual Menstruation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Menstrual Menstruation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Meenakshi Nagarajan, Sandhya Rao suggests that, Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, it seems that the employees of Menstrual Menstruation 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Menstrual Menstruation 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Menstrual Menstruation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Menstrual Menstruation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Menstrual Menstruation to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Menstrual Menstruation is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability | 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability are -
Buying journey improvements
– Menstrual Menstruation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Menstrual Menstruation in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Menstrual Menstruation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Menstrual Menstruation to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability case study. Menstrual Menstruation can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Menstrual Menstruation in the consumer business. Now Menstrual Menstruation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Menstrual Menstruation 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.
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 Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Menstrual Menstruation 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 Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Menstrual Menstruation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Menstrual Menstruation 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Menstrual Menstruation can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Menstrual Menstruation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Menstrual Menstruation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Menstrual Menstruation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Menstrual Menstruation 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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Menstrual Menstruation can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, Menstrual Menstruation may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Menstrual Menstruation in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Menstrual Menstruation 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. Menstrual Menstruation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Menstrual Menstruation 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability .
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. Menstrual Menstruation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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 Menstrual Menstruation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
