Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses
Describes and contrasts the roles and challenges of three high-performing finance heads at Novartis Consumer Health businesses in Australia, Japan, and Venezuela. All three faced tremendous pressures in terms of managing time and limited resources, but the particular circumstances of each business made for some specific challenges. Remi Escurel, CFO for Animal Health in Australia and New Zealand and regional CFO for Asia Pacific, juggled a demanding dual role. In Australia, Animal Health was a market leader, but dependence on climate-sensitive products made for uneven performance. Tanya Ferretto served as both finance head and general manager for Animal Health in Japan, where the business was a niche player struggling for survival. Jaime Maturana filled the business, planning, and analysis role for Over-the-Counter in Venezuela, a fast-growing business in a volatile political and economic environment. Describes and contracts the roles and challenges of three high-performing finance heads at Novartis Consumer Heath businesses in Australia, Japan, and Venezuela. Examines whether the skills that made these executives successful are portable from one country or region to another. Focuses on how an administrative function such as finance can play a strategic role.
Swot Analysis of "Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses" written by Boris Groysberg, Ingrid Vargas includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Venezuela Australia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Leadership development and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Venezuela Australia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Venezuela Australia 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Venezuela Australia
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 Venezuela Australia
Strengths Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Venezuela Australia in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Venezuela Australia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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.
High brand equity
– Venezuela Australia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Venezuela Australia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Venezuela Australia in the sector have low bargaining power. Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Venezuela Australia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Venezuela Australia 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 Venezuela Australia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Venezuela Australia 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Venezuela Australia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Venezuela Australia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Venezuela Australia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Venezuela Australia 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Venezuela Australia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Venezuela Australia 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Venezuela Australia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Venezuela Australia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Venezuela Australia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Venezuela Australia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Venezuela Australia 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Venezuela Australia products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Venezuela Australia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Venezuela Australia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Venezuela Australia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Boris Groysberg, Ingrid Vargas suggests that, Venezuela Australia 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses, in the dynamic environment Venezuela Australia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Venezuela Australia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Venezuela Australia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Venezuela Australia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Venezuela Australia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Venezuela Australia 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 - Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Venezuela Australia 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Venezuela Australia 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses, it seems that the employees of Venezuela Australia 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Venezuela Australia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Venezuela Australia 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses | 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Venezuela Australia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Venezuela Australia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Venezuela Australia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Venezuela Australia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Venezuela Australia to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Venezuela Australia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Venezuela Australia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses case study. Venezuela Australia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Venezuela Australia 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 Venezuela Australia 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Venezuela Australia to increase its market reach. Venezuela Australia 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Venezuela Australia 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 Venezuela Australia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Venezuela Australia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Venezuela Australia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Venezuela Australia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Venezuela Australia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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.
Threats Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Venezuela Australia 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses, Venezuela Australia 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Venezuela Australia 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 Venezuela Australia is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 Venezuela Australia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Venezuela Australia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Venezuela Australia 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Venezuela Australia 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.
Environmental challenges
– Venezuela Australia 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. Venezuela Australia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
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 Venezuela Australia in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Venezuela Australia 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 Venezuela Australia
– 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 Venezuela Australia.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses 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 Venezuela Australia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.