Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1
Supplements the (A) case.
Authors :: Lynn Sharp Paine
Topics :: Global Business
Tags :: Ethics, International business, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1" written by Lynn Sharp Paine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Becton Dickinson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, International business, Social responsibility and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Becton Dickinson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Becton Dickinson
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 Becton Dickinson
Strengths Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Becton Dickinson in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Becton Dickinson to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Becton Dickinson to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Becton Dickinson has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Becton Dickinson 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Becton Dickinson is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Becton Dickinson is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Becton Dickinson in the sector have low bargaining power. Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Becton Dickinson to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Becton Dickinson 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.
Training and development
– Becton Dickinson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Becton Dickinson in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1, is just above the industry average. Becton Dickinson 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 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 Becton Dickinson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Becton Dickinson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Becton Dickinson is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 HBR case study mentions - Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1, in the dynamic environment Becton Dickinson has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Becton Dickinson has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Becton Dickinson, firm in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Becton Dickinson is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynn Sharp Paine suggests that, Becton Dickinson is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Becton Dickinson 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
– Becton Dickinson 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 | 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Becton Dickinson has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Becton Dickinson to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 case study. Becton Dickinson can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Becton Dickinson can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Becton Dickinson operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Becton Dickinson can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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.
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. Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson 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.
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. Becton Dickinson can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Becton Dickinson 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, Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Becton Dickinson can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Becton Dickinson 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.
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. Becton Dickinson can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Becton Dickinson in the consumer business. Now Becton Dickinson can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Becton Dickinson 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.
Threats Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Becton Dickinson 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.
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. Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Becton Dickinson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Becton Dickinson 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.
Environmental challenges
– Becton Dickinson 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. Becton Dickinson can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1, Becton Dickinson 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Becton Dickinson with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Becton Dickinson 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.
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 Becton Dickinson in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Becton Dickinson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Becton Dickinson is facing in Global Business 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Becton Dickinson 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson: Ethics and Business Practices (A), Supplement 1 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 Becton Dickinson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
