Pet Care Veterinary Services SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Pet Care Veterinary Services
The spring of 2002 had been grueling for the owner of Pet Care Veterinary Services, a small-animal veterinary practice with two clinics in Southwestern Ontario. Everything seemed to be going wrong at Pet Care's Avery, Ontario location. Profitability was disappointing, medication had disappeared, and the owner had serious concerns about her associate veterinarian's quality of animal care. The owner wondered what would be her best course of action. She could afford to keep the clinic open for another year and try to either fix the operational issues or leave things as they were and see if the problems resolved themselves. The owner wondered whether it would be best to sell and avoid future problems. What price would she ask for the clinic if she chose to sell? Whatever her choice, she knew she had to make a decision quickly, because the uncertainty and stress of running two clinics were beginning to take their toll.
Swot Analysis of "Pet Care Veterinary Services" written by Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jason Stornelli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Veterinary Pet facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pet Care Veterinary Services case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Operations management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pet Care Veterinary Services casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pet Care Veterinary Services
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pet Care Veterinary Services case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Veterinary Pet, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Veterinary Pet 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pet Care Veterinary Services case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Veterinary Pet
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Veterinary Pet
Strengths Pet Care Veterinary Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Veterinary Pet in Pet Care Veterinary Services Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Veterinary Pet is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Pet Care Veterinary Services 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.
Analytics focus
– Veterinary Pet 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 Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jason Stornelli 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Veterinary Pet in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Veterinary Pet 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 Veterinary Pet is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Pet Care Veterinary Services Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Veterinary Pet 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Veterinary Pet 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Pet Care Veterinary Services firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Veterinary Pet to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Veterinary Pet to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Veterinary Pet digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Veterinary Pet 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Veterinary Pet is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Veterinary Pet 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Veterinary Pet is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Pet Care Veterinary Services are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Veterinary Pet has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Veterinary Pet 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.
Weaknesses Pet Care Veterinary Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pet Care Veterinary Services are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Veterinary Pet is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Veterinary Pet 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Veterinary Pet 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Pet Care Veterinary Services, it seems that the employees of Veterinary Pet 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Pet Care Veterinary Services, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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, Veterinary Pet is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Pet Care Veterinary Services 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, Veterinary Pet 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Veterinary Pet has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Pet Care Veterinary Services should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Veterinary Pet has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Veterinary Pet, firm in the HBR case study Pet Care Veterinary Services needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Veterinary Pet supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Pet Care Veterinary Services, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Veterinary Pet vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Pet Care Veterinary Services | 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Veterinary Pet 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Veterinary Pet 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Veterinary Pet in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Veterinary Pet can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Veterinary Pet can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Veterinary Pet operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Veterinary Pet 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 Veterinary Pet to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Veterinary Pet can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Loyalty marketing
– Veterinary Pet 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Veterinary Pet to increase its market reach. Veterinary Pet 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.
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 Veterinary Pet in the consumer business. Now Veterinary Pet can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Veterinary Pet 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Manufacturing automation
– Veterinary Pet can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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, Veterinary Pet 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, Pet Care Veterinary Services, 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pet Care Veterinary Services are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Veterinary Pet 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 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Veterinary Pet 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Veterinary Pet is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Veterinary Pet 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. Veterinary Pet can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Veterinary Pet 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Veterinary Pet can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Veterinary Pet 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Veterinary Pet with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Veterinary Pet has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Veterinary Pet needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Pet Care Veterinary Services, Veterinary Pet may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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 Veterinary Pet in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Pet Care Veterinary Services 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 Veterinary Pet needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.