Case Study Description of Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine
Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company (BPC) was established in 1974. It had successfully completed a number of mergers and had overcome challenges and development phases that led the company to secure a strong position in its local market, Palestine, as well as introduce a wide range of products in the export market. BPC's continuous success, despite political instability and continuous restrictions on its growth and expansion, led the company's vision to focus beyond the local presence. Despite the growth of BPC and its being financially solid, it was very similar to other Arab businesses, which were reluctant to invest massive amounts of money and take big risks in growing outside their areas. BPC did not wish to risk large amounts of money to grow the business further, and instead chose to expand to new markets or introduce new niche products on a conservative basis. BPC invested in an Algerian packaging company named Petrapharm in 2006 and aimed to meet its vision of growth by entering new markets and introducing new products. BPC wanted the packaging company to later grow to a manufacturing company, and accordingly to an export location. In a business environment that was based on quick decisions due to the fast growing businesses, emerging markets and high competition, the company needed to make faster decisions, invest more money and choose a new path to secure its business development and growth. Competition in pharmaceutical manufacturing and especially among generics was increasing massively, and the faster BPC moved, the more competitive it would be.
Swot Analysis of "Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine" written by Yara Asad, Ilan Alon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bpc Birzeit facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Risk management and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bpc Birzeit, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bpc Birzeit 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bpc Birzeit
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 Bpc Birzeit
Strengths Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bpc Birzeit in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bpc Birzeit has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bpc Birzeit 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.
High brand equity
– Bpc Birzeit has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bpc Birzeit to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Bpc Birzeit has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bpc Birzeit is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Learning organization
- Bpc Birzeit 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 Bpc Birzeit is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bpc Birzeit 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bpc Birzeit in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Bpc Birzeit 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 Yara Asad, Ilan Alon 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bpc Birzeit 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bpc Birzeit is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bpc Birzeit 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine - 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
– Bpc Birzeit is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bpc Birzeit 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bpc Birzeit 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. Bpc Birzeit 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.
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 Bpc Birzeit supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bpc Birzeit vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bpc Birzeit is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Bpc Birzeit needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bpc Birzeit to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bpc Birzeit is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Bpc Birzeit has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Bpc Birzeit 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bpc Birzeit 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bpc Birzeit 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.
Opportunities Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine | 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bpc Birzeit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bpc Birzeit to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine case study. Bpc Birzeit can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bpc Birzeit 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bpc Birzeit is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bpc Birzeit can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Bpc Birzeit can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bpc Birzeit 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. Bpc Birzeit 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bpc Birzeit can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bpc Birzeit operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bpc Birzeit 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bpc Birzeit 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bpc Birzeit 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 Bpc Birzeit to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bpc Birzeit to increase its market reach. Bpc Birzeit 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.
Threats Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bpc Birzeit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bpc Birzeit 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bpc Birzeit can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Bpc Birzeit
– 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 Bpc Birzeit.
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 Bpc Birzeit business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine, Bpc Birzeit 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 .
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. Bpc Birzeit needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
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. Bpc Birzeit 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bpc Birzeit 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
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
Environmental challenges
– Bpc Birzeit 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. Bpc Birzeit can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bpc Birzeit 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bpc Birzeit 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine 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 Bpc Birzeit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.