Case Study Description of Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma
In 2012, Sanofi Pasteur was racing to develop a vaccine against dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, and was evaluating this product in a Phase IIb trial conducted with school children in Thailand. But while the candidate vaccine met the high safety expectations and a good balanced immune answer, it had a proof of efficacy of only 30%, far below the 70% mark the company had targeted. Guillaume Leroy, vice president of the Dengue Company at Sanofi Pasteur, reflected on the Phase IIb trial's surprising outcome and the way forward. He had to decide whether to go ahead with the vaccine trials and production, and if so, needed to develop a strategic plan on how to price and deliver the vaccine for a rapid roll-out.
Authors :: V. Kasturi Rangan, David E. Bloom, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud
Swot Analysis of "Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma" written by V. Kasturi Rangan, David E. Bloom, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vaccine Pasteur facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, Marketing, Product development, Social enterprise and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vaccine Pasteur, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vaccine Pasteur 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vaccine Pasteur
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 Vaccine Pasteur
Strengths Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vaccine Pasteur in Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Vaccine Pasteur is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Vaccine Pasteur digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Vaccine Pasteur 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)
– Vaccine Pasteur 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vaccine Pasteur is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Vaccine Pasteur in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vaccine Pasteur 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vaccine Pasteur has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vaccine Pasteur 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 lead change in Global Business field
– Vaccine Pasteur 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 Vaccine Pasteur in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Vaccine Pasteur
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Vaccine Pasteur does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Vaccine Pasteur has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vaccine Pasteur is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Vaccine Pasteur needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vaccine Pasteur to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Vaccine Pasteur products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Vaccine Pasteur needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Vaccine Pasteur is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Vaccine Pasteur 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, V. Kasturi Rangan, David E. Bloom, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud suggests that, Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vaccine Pasteur, firm in the HBR case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma, it seems that the employees of Vaccine Pasteur don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Vaccine Pasteur 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Vaccine Pasteur 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. Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Opportunities Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma | 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vaccine Pasteur can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vaccine Pasteur 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. Vaccine Pasteur can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vaccine Pasteur 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vaccine Pasteur to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Vaccine Pasteur can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Vaccine Pasteur 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. Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vaccine Pasteur 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.
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 Vaccine Pasteur in the consumer business. Now Vaccine Pasteur can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Vaccine Pasteur can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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.
Threats Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Vaccine Pasteur business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Environmental challenges
– Vaccine Pasteur 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. Vaccine Pasteur can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
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, Vaccine Pasteur 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma .
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. Vaccine Pasteur 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
– Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma, Vaccine Pasteur 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Vaccine Pasteur 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vaccine Pasteur has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vaccine Pasteur 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vaccine Pasteur is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Sanofi Pasteur: The Dengue Vaccine Dilemma 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 Vaccine Pasteur needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
