The protagonist ("Howard Glass") is a recent GSB graduate (2007) heading up a biomedical team start-up focused on the gastric bypass method. The case tracks Glass and team from the team foundation and idea generation phases through the company's first 6 - 7 months of operation, as Minova burns through what little money it has and actively looks to close a seed of funding.
Swot Analysis of "Minova" written by Robert Chess includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Minova Glass facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Minova case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Research & development and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Minova casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Minova case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Minova Glass, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Minova Glass 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 Minova can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Minova case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Minova Glass
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Minova Glass
Strengths Minova | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Minova Glass in Minova Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Minova Glass 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Minova Glass in the sector have low bargaining power. Minova has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Minova Glass to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Minova Glass 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 Minova HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Minova firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Minova Glass to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Minova Glass to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Minova Glass is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Minova Glass is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Minova Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Minova Glass 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Minova Glass digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Minova Glass 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)
– Minova Glass 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 Minova - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Minova Glass is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Robert Chess can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High brand equity
– Minova Glass has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Minova Glass to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Minova Glass has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Minova Glass 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.
Weaknesses Minova | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Minova are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Minova Glass has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Minova Glass 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Minova 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 Minova can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Minova Glass is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert Chess suggests that, Minova Glass 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Minova Glass 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Minova Glass 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Minova Glass, firm in the HBR case study Minova needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Minova HBR case study mentions - Minova Glass takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Minova 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 Minova Glass has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Minova Glass is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Minova Glass needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Minova Glass to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Minova, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 Minova | 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 Minova are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Minova Glass can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Minova Glass can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Minova Glass 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Minova Glass 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 Minova - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Minova Glass to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Minova Glass has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Minova Glass to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Minova case study. Minova Glass 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, Minova Glass is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Minova 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.
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 Minova Glass in the consumer business. Now Minova Glass can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Minova Glass in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Minova Glass 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Minova Glass can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Minova Glass can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Minova Glass 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Minova Glass can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Minova Glass operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Threats Minova External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Minova 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 Minova Glass business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Minova Glass 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Minova Glass 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.
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 Minova Glass in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Minova Glass 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. Minova Glass can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Minova Glass is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Minova, Minova Glass may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Minova Glass 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.
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 Minova Glass.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Minova Glass has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Minova Glass needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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, Minova Glass 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 Minova .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Minova 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 Minova 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 Minova 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 Minova 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 Minova 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 Minova Glass needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.