Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution
Laurs & Bridz Pharmaceuticals Private Limited (Laurs & Bridz) was a state-of-the-art generic pharmaceutical company that exported pharmaceutical products all over the world and specialized in providing combination drugs to the medical community. The company needed to deploy a customer relationship management (CRM) solution to strengthen its sales and marketing, and build robust systems to better track customers, strengthen customer relationships, and enhance sales-force productivity. In 2017, Laurs & Bridz was considering several CRM solutions, which had been shortlisted on the basis of features and price. Before it could invest 50 million in the new system, Laurs & Bridz had to answer several important questions: Which of the available CRM solutions would best suit the firm? What would be the direct and indirect effects of implementing such a CRM solution? What kind of approach should the firm use to implement the solution? What obstacles could interfere with that solution's successful implementation? Anand Khanna is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. Sandeep Puri is affiliated with Asian Institute of Management.
Authors :: Anand Khanna, Sandeep Puri, Abhishek Sen
Swot Analysis of "Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution" written by Anand Khanna, Sandeep Puri, Abhishek Sen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bridz Laurs facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bridz Laurs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bridz Laurs
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 Bridz Laurs
Strengths Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bridz Laurs in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Bridz Laurs has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution - 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bridz Laurs in the sector have low bargaining power. Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bridz Laurs to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bridz Laurs digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bridz Laurs 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bridz Laurs is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bridz Laurs is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Bridz Laurs has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bridz Laurs to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bridz Laurs in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bridz Laurs is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Bridz Laurs 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 Bridz Laurs is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bridz Laurs is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bridz Laurs is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bridz Laurs, firm in the HBR case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution, is just above the industry average. Bridz Laurs 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Bridz Laurs 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution HBR case study mentions - Bridz Laurs 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution, in the dynamic environment Bridz Laurs has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bridz Laurs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bridz Laurs 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bridz Laurs 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution | 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution are -
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 Bridz Laurs in the consumer business. Now Bridz Laurs can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Bridz Laurs 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bridz Laurs 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bridz Laurs 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. Bridz Laurs 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.
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 Bridz Laurs 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bridz Laurs to increase its market reach. Bridz Laurs 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bridz Laurs can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bridz Laurs operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bridz Laurs 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bridz Laurs 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 Bridz Laurs to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bridz Laurs has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bridz Laurs to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution case study. Bridz Laurs can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bridz Laurs 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bridz Laurs 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, Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bridz Laurs 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.
Threats Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution are -
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Bridz Laurs 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. Bridz Laurs can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bridz Laurs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bridz Laurs is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution .
Increasing wage structure of Bridz Laurs
– 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 Bridz Laurs.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution, Bridz Laurs 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 Bridz Laurs in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bridz Laurs 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 Bridz Laurs business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Bridz Laurs 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Laurs & Bridz: Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management Solution 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 Bridz Laurs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.