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 - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Menstrual Menstruation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Menstrual Menstruation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Menstrual Menstruation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
Training and development
– Menstrual Menstruation has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- Menstrual Menstruation 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 Menstrual Menstruation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
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 -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Menstrual Menstruation 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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Menstrual Menstruation 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Menstrual Menstruation, firm in the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Menstrual Menstruation has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 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 -
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Menstrual Menstruation 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 Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Menstrual Menstruation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Menstrual Menstruation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability 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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Menstrual Menstruation can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Menstrual Menstruation 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, Hygiene and You: Sustainability and Profitability, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Menstrual Menstruation can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Menstrual Menstruation 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 Menstrual Menstruation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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 .
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 Menstrual Menstruation in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 Menstrual Menstruation.
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 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Menstrual Menstruation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Menstrual Menstruation needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Menstrual Menstruation is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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.
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.
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.