Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited
"AWARD-WINNING CASE: Adjudged second best case at the ISB Case Competition 2010 held in partnership with the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Association of Indian Management Schools and sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. This case describes the successful journey of Dr. Amita Joshi in a medium-sized pharmaceuticals organization, Samuel Drugs, in India, which was facing serious performance problems. Joshi realized that the organization had strong manufacturing capability; however, it lacked marketing excellence and badly needed someone who could be tasked with making the company marketing-oriented. Joshi selected, out of turn, a young general manager of sales, Rajesh Mishra, as director of marketing. He proved to be an excellent choice and performed very well in his new role. Samuel Drugs had three subsidiaries, and one of them, Eastern Pharmaceuticals Limited (EPL), required a managing director, and Mishra was selected. He also continued to perform his previous role of director of marketing. Then conflict ensued between Joshi and Mishra. This case reveals the important roles of communication, coordination, multiple and diverse stakeholders, and organizational conflict in determining organizational effectiveness. This case also highlights the point that managers need to tackle both formal and informal aspects of an organization, rational and social sides of organizational life, and changing dynamics of relationships and networks."
Swot Analysis of "Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited" written by Anup K. Singh, Abhinav Gupta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Joshi Samuel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Gender, Government, International business, Leadership, Organizational culture, Organizational structure and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited casestudy better are - – technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Joshi Samuel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Joshi Samuel 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Joshi Samuel
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 Joshi Samuel
Strengths Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Joshi Samuel in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Joshi Samuel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Joshi Samuel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Joshi Samuel in the sector have low bargaining power. Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Joshi Samuel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Joshi Samuel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Joshi Samuel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Joshi Samuel 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 Anup K. Singh, Abhinav Gupta 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 Joshi Samuel 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Joshi Samuel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Joshi Samuel 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Joshi Samuel 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Joshi Samuel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Joshi Samuel 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.
Training and development
– Joshi Samuel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Joshi Samuel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Joshi Samuel 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Joshi Samuel 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 Joshi Samuel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited are -
Need for greater diversity
– Joshi Samuel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Joshi Samuel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Joshi Samuel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Joshi Samuel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Joshi Samuel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Joshi Samuel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Joshi Samuel, firm in the HBR case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Joshi Samuel has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited, in the dynamic environment Joshi Samuel has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Joshi Samuel has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Joshi Samuel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Joshi Samuel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Joshi Samuel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Joshi Samuel is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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 Joshi Samuel 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Joshi Samuel 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited | 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Joshi Samuel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Joshi Samuel 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 Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Joshi Samuel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Joshi Samuel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Joshi Samuel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Joshi Samuel in the consumer business. Now Joshi Samuel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Joshi Samuel to increase its market reach. Joshi Samuel 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Joshi Samuel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Joshi Samuel 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Joshi Samuel 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Joshi Samuel 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.
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. Joshi Samuel 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. Joshi Samuel 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.
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 Joshi Samuel 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Joshi Samuel 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.
Threats Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited, Joshi Samuel may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Regulatory challenges
– Joshi Samuel 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Joshi Samuel 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.
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. Joshi Samuel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Joshi Samuel in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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 wage structure of Joshi Samuel
– 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 Joshi Samuel.
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. Joshi Samuel 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Joshi Samuel 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.
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 Joshi Samuel in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Joshi Samuel with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Joshi Samuel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Joshi Samuel 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dr. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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. Amita Joshi at Samuel Drugs Limited 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 Joshi Samuel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.