Swot Analysis of "Dr. John's Products Ltd." written by William A. Sahlman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that John's Toothbrush facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dr. John's Products Ltd. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Innovation, Intellectual property, Joint ventures and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dr. John's Products Ltd. casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dr. John's Products Ltd.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dr. John's Products Ltd. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the John's Toothbrush, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which John's Toothbrush 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dr. John's Products Ltd. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of John's Toothbrush
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 John's Toothbrush
Strengths Dr. John's Products Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of John's Toothbrush in Dr. John's Products Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the John's Toothbrush 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– John's Toothbrush is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dr. John's Products Ltd. are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– John's Toothbrush 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 John's Toothbrush in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– John's Toothbrush has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled John's Toothbrush to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that John's Toothbrush 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Dr. John's Products Ltd. firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled John's Toothbrush to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped John's Toothbrush to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- John's Toothbrush 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 John's Toothbrush is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dr. John's Products Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– John's Toothbrush is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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.
Innovation driven organization
– John's Toothbrush is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dr. John's Products Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– John's Toothbrush 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– John's Toothbrush 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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.
Weaknesses Dr. John's Products Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dr. John's Products Ltd. are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of John's Toothbrush is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. John's Toothbrush needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help John's Toothbrush to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, John's Toothbrush is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Dr. John's Products Ltd. can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of John's Toothbrush supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dr. John's Products Ltd., it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left John's Toothbrush vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as John's Toothbrush is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, John's Toothbrush 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
– John's Toothbrush has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 John's Toothbrush 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Dr. John's Products Ltd., is just above the industry average. John's Toothbrush needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, John's Toothbrush 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dr. John's Products Ltd., in the dynamic environment John's Toothbrush has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. John's Toothbrush has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, John's Toothbrush 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.
Opportunities Dr. John's Products Ltd. | 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. are -
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. John's Toothbrush can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, John's Toothbrush is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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.
Loyalty marketing
– John's Toothbrush 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, John's Toothbrush can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that John's Toothbrush operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, John's Toothbrush 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at John's Toothbrush 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for John's Toothbrush 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for John's Toothbrush 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 John's Toothbrush to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, John's Toothbrush 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, Dr. John's Products Ltd., to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for John's Toothbrush 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 John's Toothbrush has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help John's Toothbrush to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dr. John's Products Ltd. case study. John's Toothbrush can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– John's Toothbrush can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 John's Toothbrush can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Dr. John's Products Ltd. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dr. John's Products Ltd. are -
Regulatory challenges
– John's Toothbrush 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.
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.
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. John's Toothbrush needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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. John's Toothbrush 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.
Environmental challenges
– John's Toothbrush 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. John's Toothbrush can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 John's Toothbrush.
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.
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 John's Toothbrush in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that John's Toothbrush is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– John's Toothbrush 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– John's Toothbrush 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for John's Toothbrush in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, John's Toothbrush 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 Dr. John's Products Ltd. 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 John's Toothbrush needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.