Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa

In the final years of the 20th century, the world was hit by a plague of epidemic proportions--AIDS, a life-threatening disease that remained stubbornly immune to any cure or vaccine. In the developed nations of the West, AIDS was slowly brought under control through a combination of education, prevention, and cutting-edge medicines. But in the developing world, where health care expenditures were often paltry, AIDS continued to rampage. By the year 2000, 25 million people in Africa alone were infected with the disease. Millions had already died. Nearly all of the medicines that treated AIDS had been developed--at great expense--by the major western pharmaceutical firms. These medicines were expensive to produce and often difficult to administer. They demanded levels of income and structures of distribution that often were sorely lacking in the developing world. Increasingly, activist groups were demanding that the pharmaceutical companies respond to the AIDS epidemic with drastic measures, giving their drugs away for free or abandoning the patent rights that had long protected their intellectual property. The pharmaceutical firms needed to respond to their critics. The question was, how?

Authors :: Nicholas Bartlett, Debora L. Spar

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: Intellectual property, International business, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa" written by Nicholas Bartlett, Debora L. Spar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aids Medicines facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Intellectual property, International business, Social responsibility and Global Business.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aids Medicines, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aids Medicines 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aids Medicines
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 Aids Medicines

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Strengths Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Aids Medicines in Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -

Digital Transformation in Global Business segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aids Medicines digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aids Medicines 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Aids Medicines 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Aids Medicines in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Global Business field

– Aids Medicines 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 Aids Medicines in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Aids Medicines 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Aids Medicines 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Aids Medicines is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Aids Medicines in the sector have low bargaining power. Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aids Medicines to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Organizational Resilience of Aids Medicines

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Aids Medicines does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Analytics focus

– Aids Medicines 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 Nicholas Bartlett, Debora L. Spar 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.

High brand equity

– Aids Medicines has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Aids Medicines to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Aids Medicines 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Aids Medicines, firm in the HBR case study Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa, in the dynamic environment Aids Medicines has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aids Medicines has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Need for greater diversity

– Aids Medicines 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 dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Aids Medicines has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Aids Medicines 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Aids Medicines is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Aids Medicines needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Aids Medicines to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Aids Medicines 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Aids Medicines 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Aids Medicines 's lucrative customers.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa HBR case study mentions - Aids Medicines 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.

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 Aids Medicines supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Aids Medicines vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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Opportunities Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa | 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa are -

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. Aids Medicines 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. Aids Medicines 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Aids Medicines 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Aids Medicines can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.

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 Aids Medicines in the consumer business. Now Aids Medicines can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aids Medicines 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Aids Medicines 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Aids Medicines has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aids Medicines to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa case study. Aids Medicines can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Aids Medicines to increase its market reach. Aids Medicines 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aids Medicines 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.

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. Aids Medicines can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Aids Medicines 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aids Medicines to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Aids Medicines 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 Aids Medicines to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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 Aids Medicines 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.

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Threats Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa are -

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 Aids Medicines business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Aids Medicines with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Environmental challenges

– Aids Medicines 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. Aids Medicines can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Aids Medicines can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Aids Medicines 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa, Aids Medicines 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, Aids Medicines 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa .

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 Aids Medicines in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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.

Regulatory challenges

– Aids Medicines needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Global Business industry regulations.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Aids Medicines has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aids Medicines 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 Aids Medicines 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.

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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa 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 Aids Medicines needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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