ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World
This case introduces the story of RedMed, the leading provider of sleep apnea devices. The company, founded by Dr. Peter Farrell and Dr. Colin Sullivan (the device's inventor) in Australia, quickly became international. The company set up a second headquarters in San Diego and soon was selling devices in Europe, Asia and the Americas, in addition to its "home" market. The case addresses the various strategies the company followed to establish a position and gain leadership in its various international markets.
Authors :: George Foster, Janet Feldstein, Corrine Putt, Antonio Davila
Swot Analysis of "ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World" written by George Foster, Janet Feldstein, Corrine Putt, Antonio Davila includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sleep Redmed facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing, Operations management and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sleep Redmed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sleep Redmed 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sleep Redmed
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sleep Redmed
Strengths ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sleep Redmed in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sleep Redmed is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Sleep Redmed 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 George Foster, Janet Feldstein, Corrine Putt, Antonio Davila 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sleep Redmed is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sleep Redmed has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sleep Redmed 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sleep Redmed has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sleep Redmed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sleep Redmed in the sector have low bargaining power. ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sleep Redmed to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Sleep Redmed has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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.
High brand equity
– Sleep Redmed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sleep Redmed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sleep Redmed 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Sleep Redmed 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 Sleep Redmed is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sleep Redmed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sleep Redmed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sleep Redmed 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sleep Redmed 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 Sleep Redmed has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 Sleep Redmed 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Sleep Redmed 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sleep Redmed, firm in the HBR case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World HBR case study mentions - Sleep Redmed takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sleep Redmed 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World, is just above the industry average. Sleep Redmed 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sleep Redmed is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World | 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sleep Redmed 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 Global Business segment.
Buying journey improvements
– Sleep Redmed can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sleep Redmed is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sleep Redmed 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sleep Redmed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sleep Redmed 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. Sleep Redmed 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sleep Redmed 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sleep Redmed 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 Sleep Redmed to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sleep Redmed can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sleep Redmed operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sleep Redmed can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Sleep Redmed can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sleep Redmed to increase its market reach. Sleep Redmed 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sleep Redmed 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sleep Redmed can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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. Sleep Redmed needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sleep Redmed is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World, Sleep Redmed may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sleep Redmed 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sleep Redmed 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sleep Redmed with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Sleep Redmed.
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 Sleep Redmed business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sleep Redmed has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sleep Redmed needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sleep Redmed 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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sleep Redmed can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sleep Redmed in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 ResMed, Inc. - Promoting Better Sleep Throughout the World 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 Sleep Redmed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.