Case Study Description of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations
This case captures the roller-coaster ride of India's first multinational pharmaceutical company that after winning several accolades lost its way only to eventually plead guilty for the unethical practices it had resorted to in fulfilling its growth aspirations. Tracing the strategic choices of the company since its inception until it ceased to exist, the case covers the reign of several different CEOs. It enables examination of the drivers of a firm's strategic choices at the point of decision making, and serves to illustrate the dynamic aspects of leadership. Among others, it highlights the role of aspirations as a driver of firm's choices and the difficult tradeoffs that are inherent to aspiration-driven strategies. Demonstrating the negative repercussions of an aspiration-led strategy as well as the challenges a firm's leadership faces as they seek to re-define the aspirations, it serves as an intriguing story of the dark side of aspirations. The teaching note provides a set of discussion questions and pre-reads that can be assigned to the class, and suggests a detailed teaching plan that is divided into five pastures.
Swot Analysis of "Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations" written by J Ramachandran, Snigdha Manukonda, Kiran Awate includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aspirations Aspiration facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aspirations Aspiration, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aspirations Aspiration 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aspirations Aspiration
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 Aspirations Aspiration
Strengths Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aspirations Aspiration in Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Aspirations Aspiration is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Aspirations Aspiration to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Aspirations Aspiration to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aspirations Aspiration digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Aspirations Aspiration 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 Aspirations Aspiration in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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.
Learning organization
- Aspirations Aspiration 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 Aspirations Aspiration is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Aspirations Aspiration in the sector have low bargaining power. Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aspirations Aspiration to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Organizational Resilience of Aspirations Aspiration
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Aspirations Aspiration does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Aspirations Aspiration 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aspirations Aspiration 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations - 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 Aspirations Aspiration in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aspirations Aspiration, firm in the HBR case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations, in the dynamic environment Aspirations Aspiration has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aspirations Aspiration has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Aspirations Aspiration 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aspirations Aspiration is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Aspirations Aspiration 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. Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Aspirations Aspiration products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Aspirations Aspiration needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Aspirations Aspiration 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 - Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aspirations Aspiration is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations, it seems that the employees of Aspirations Aspiration 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Opportunities Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations | 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Aspirations Aspiration 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
– Aspirations Aspiration 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, Aspirations Aspiration can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Aspirations Aspiration operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Aspirations Aspiration has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aspirations Aspiration to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations case study. Aspirations Aspiration can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aspirations Aspiration is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Aspirations Aspiration 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.
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 Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Aspirations Aspiration to increase its market reach. Aspirations Aspiration 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Aspirations Aspiration 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, Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Aspirations Aspiration 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. Aspirations Aspiration 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.
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. Aspirations Aspiration can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Aspirations Aspiration can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Aspirations Aspiration can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations are -
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. Aspirations Aspiration can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Aspirations Aspiration 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 Aspirations Aspiration is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Aspirations Aspiration 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Aspirations Aspiration high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Aspirations Aspiration with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Aspirations Aspiration needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Aspirations Aspiration 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. Aspirations Aspiration can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Increasing wage structure of Aspirations Aspiration
– 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 Aspirations Aspiration.
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.
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 Aspirations Aspiration business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Aspirations Aspiration in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited: Changing Aspirations 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 Aspirations Aspiration needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.