Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights
In April 1998, Pfizer Inc ("Pfizer") launched Viagra, a prescription drug for treating erectile dysfunction, in the US and Europe with huge success. However, its market entry into China was met with an 11-year battle with local drug companies over Viagra's patent, Chinese trademark and three-dimensional trademark ("3D trademark"). Pfizer's patent was invalidated in July 2004 by the authorities after being jointly challenged by 12 local companies. A local company had launched its own erectile dysfunction drug using Viagra's Chinese nickname as its trademark, and copying Viagra's 3D trademark. Pfizer defended its intellectual property rights ("IPR") in court. It won the patent and 3D trademark litigations, but lost in the Chinese trademark case. Irrespective of the litigation outcomes, Viagra's sales in China have been stifled by prevalent counterfeits and herbal substitutes containing its active ingredient or equivalents. Pfizer's management is trying to figure out what went wrong in its market entry strategy, how to generate more sales before its patent expires in 2014, and what should be done to better protect the IPR of the drugs it intends to launch in the country.
Swot Analysis of "Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights" written by Yahong Li, Jiangyong Lu, Zhigang Tao, Shangjin Wei includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trademark Viagra's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Strategy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption,
geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trademark Viagra's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trademark Viagra's 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trademark Viagra's
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 Trademark Viagra's
Strengths Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trademark Viagra's in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Trademark Viagra's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Trademark Viagra's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Trademark Viagra's 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Trademark Viagra's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Trademark Viagra's 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Trademark Viagra's 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 Global Business industry
– Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Trademark Viagra's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Trademark Viagra's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Trademark Viagra's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Trademark Viagra's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Trademark Viagra's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Trademark Viagra's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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.
Learning organization
- Trademark Viagra's 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 Trademark Viagra's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Trademark Viagra's 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 Trademark Viagra's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Trademark Viagra's 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights - 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Trademark Viagra's 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yahong Li, Jiangyong Lu, Zhigang Tao, Shangjin Wei suggests that, Trademark Viagra's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Trademark Viagra's 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Trademark Viagra's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Trademark Viagra's 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 - Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights, in the dynamic environment Trademark Viagra's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Trademark Viagra's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Trademark Viagra's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Trademark Viagra's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Trademark Viagra's 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
– Trademark Viagra's 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Trademark Viagra's has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Trademark Viagra's even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights | 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trademark Viagra's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Trademark Viagra's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Trademark Viagra's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights case study. Trademark Viagra's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Trademark Viagra's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trademark Viagra's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Trademark Viagra's 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 Trademark Viagra's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Trademark Viagra's in the consumer business. Now Trademark Viagra's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Trademark Viagra's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Trademark Viagra's 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.
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. Trademark Viagra's 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. Trademark Viagra's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Trademark Viagra's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Trademark Viagra's to increase its market reach. Trademark Viagra's 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.
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 Trademark Viagra's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Trademark Viagra's 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Trademark Viagra's 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 wage structure of Trademark Viagra's
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Trademark Viagra's.
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. Trademark Viagra's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Trademark Viagra's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Trademark Viagra's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Trademark Viagra's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Trademark Viagra's 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.
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 Trademark Viagra's.
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 Trademark Viagra's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Trademark Viagra's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Trademark Viagra's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trademark Viagra's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Trademark Viagra's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Viagra in China: A Prolonged Battle over Intellectual Property Rights 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 Trademark Viagra's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
