Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma
The supply chain director of Indo-Euro Pharma summoned an urgent meeting in response to significant losses incurred by the company in the last fiscal year. This was primarily due to the return of yet another international consignment of temperature-sensitive drugs (TSDs) - this time worth millions of dollars. The meeting focused on the inability of Indo-Euro Pharma to appropriately distribute and monitor TSDs cost effectively across the various stages and locations of the supply chain - especially at the pharmacist level. Deviations from drugs' required temperature ranges could happen during packaging, storage, transport, loading and unloading in aircraft, sea containers, trucks, etc. It was extremely difficult to monitor whether pharmacists were following proper procedures for storing TSDs. Most medical stores in India had domestic refrigerators that required frequent calibration. The problems indicated the need for Indo-Euro Pharma to adopt an alternative distribution system that was specifically tailored for TSDs. Mohit Srivastava is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur. Helen Rogers is affiliated with Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen. Kulwant Pawar is affiliated with University of Nottingham. Janat Shah is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur
Authors :: Mohit Srivastava, Helen Rogers, Kulwant Pawar, Janat Shah
Swot Analysis of "Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma" written by Mohit Srivastava, Helen Rogers, Kulwant Pawar, Janat Shah includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tsds Indo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tsds Indo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tsds Indo 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tsds Indo
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 Tsds Indo
Strengths Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tsds Indo in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tsds Indo 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 Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tsds Indo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tsds Indo 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tsds Indo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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.
Analytics focus
– Tsds Indo 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 Mohit Srivastava, Helen Rogers, Kulwant Pawar, Janat Shah 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tsds Indo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tsds Indo 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Tsds Indo 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 Tsds Indo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tsds Indo 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
– Tsds Indo is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Tsds Indo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tsds Indo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tsds Indo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tsds Indo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tsds Indo, firm in the HBR case study Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma, it seems that the employees of Tsds Indo don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma HBR case study mentions - Tsds Indo 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tsds Indo 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. Tsds Indo 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tsds Indo is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma, in the dynamic environment Tsds Indo has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tsds Indo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mohit Srivastava, Helen Rogers, Kulwant Pawar, Janat Shah suggests that, Tsds Indo 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tsds Indo has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Tsds Indo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tsds Indo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Tsds Indo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tsds Indo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Tsds Indo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Tsds Indo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma | 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tsds Indo 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tsds Indo 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Tsds Indo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Tsds Indo 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, Tsds Indo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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.
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. Tsds Indo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tsds Indo 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 Tsds Indo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tsds Indo 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 Tsds Indo in the consumer business. Now Tsds Indo 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 Tsds Indo 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.
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 Tsds Indo 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tsds Indo can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Tsds Indo 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. Tsds Indo 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.
Threats Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma are -
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 Tsds Indo in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Tsds Indo 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Tsds Indo
– 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 Tsds Indo.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tsds Indo 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 Tsds Indo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Tsds Indo.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tsds Indo 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.
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. Tsds Indo 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. Tsds Indo 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tsds Indo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tsds Indo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Environmental challenges
– Tsds Indo 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. Tsds Indo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tsds Indo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Cold Chain Distribution Issues at Indo-Euro Pharma 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 Tsds Indo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
