Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B)
Dr. Barrett Rollins, Chief Scientific Officer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, attempts to engender cross-scientist collaboration by applying project management principles to medical research. The resulting innovation, Integrative Research Centers, are novel in this field and present a substantial challenge to the Institute's culture, which had previously allowed faculty scientists complete autonomy over their research. Center leaders are required to develop a business plan, adhere to agreed-upon performance metrics, and undergo regular progress reviews conducted by a peer-led oversight committee. In the "A" case, the Center for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a new but crucial center in the program, had failed to meet almost all of its objectives in the first year, and a heated dispute between two faculty members in the center had complicated matters significantly. The "B" case outlines the decisions Rollins took in terms of leadership and other strategic matters, and shows how the Center is performing a year after its initial disappointing progress.
Authors :: Heidi K. Gardner, Edo Bedzra, Shereef M. Elnahal
Swot Analysis of "Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B)" written by Heidi K. Gardner, Edo Bedzra, Shereef M. Elnahal includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cancer Center facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Collaboration, Communication, Leading teams, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cancer Center, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cancer Center 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cancer Center
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cancer Center
Strengths Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cancer Center in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cancer Center 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cancer Center has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cancer Center 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cancer Center is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cancer Center 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Cancer Center has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cancer Center to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cancer Center in the sector have low bargaining power. Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cancer Center to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Cancer Center 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 Cancer Center is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Cancer Center 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 Cancer Center in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Cancer Center has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cancer Center
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cancer Center does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cancer Center 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.
Analytics focus
– Cancer Center 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 Heidi K. Gardner, Edo Bedzra, Shereef M. Elnahal 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.
Weaknesses Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B), in the dynamic environment Cancer Center has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cancer Center has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cancer Center products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cancer Center needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Heidi K. Gardner, Edo Bedzra, Shereef M. Elnahal suggests that, Cancer Center is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cancer Center, firm in the HBR case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cancer Center 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cancer Center is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cancer Center 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. Cancer Center 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cancer Center is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Cancer Center needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cancer Center to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) HBR case study mentions - Cancer Center 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Cancer Center 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) | 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cancer Center in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cancer Center 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. Cancer Center 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cancer Center can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cancer Center 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.
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 Cancer Center in the consumer business. Now Cancer Center can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Cancer Center can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cancer Center 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cancer Center to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Cancer Center 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.
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 Cancer Center 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cancer Center 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cancer Center 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cancer Center to increase its market reach. Cancer Center 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cancer Center can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Threats Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cancer Center 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cancer Center is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Cancer Center business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cancer Center with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cancer Center 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cancer Center 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Cancer Center needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Cancer Center in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cancer Center can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Cancer Center 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.
Increasing wage structure of Cancer Center
– 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 Cancer Center.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cancer Center 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Ganging up on Cancer: Integrative Research Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (B) 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 Cancer Center needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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