Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease and a public health problem in over 100 countries worldwide. It causes about one million deaths each year; most of them are children under the age of five in Sub-Saharan Africa. The tragedy is that most of the deaths are preventable.Drugs to cure the disease exist, however they don't reach the demand where it occurs and stock-outs of drugs to treat malaria cost lives. Jim Barrington, former chief information officer (CIO) at Novartis and current director of the SMS for Life project, had been trying to solve the problem since 2006, when he first heard about the "last mile" problem from Silvio Gabriel, executive vice president (EVP), Novartis Malaria Initiatives. The case talks about how he approached the supply-chain problem and established a public-private partnership to develop a simple solution suitable for the rugged African environment. The essential idea was to create an in-county forecasting system based on the use of SMS messaging between the health posts that dispense the drugs and the district and regional warehouses that distribute the drug. A data management system with a reporting interface using charts provided stock level information from all facilities to facilitate stock movement and supply, as well as improving stock forecasting and planning. The case describes the process of developing and implementing the solution through a pilot in three districts in Tanzania. The pilot was successful and the case ends with the question how to approach a country-wide and even a pan-African roll-out. Learning objectives: There are three learning objectives, and ways to teach the case: 1) To discuss a new, collaborative way, involving private and public companies (and contrast it other available approaches), to solve world-wide problems, which demand solutions beyond the capabilities and responsibilities of single players. 2) How simple technology, e.g. based on available mobile phone networks, can solve supply chain problems in most difficult environments. 3) How external collaborations can bring innovation into well established multinational players, and have a potential impact on their business model.
Swot Analysis of "Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa" written by Donald A. Marchand, Anna Moncef includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sms Malaria facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, Innovation, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sms Malaria, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sms Malaria 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sms Malaria
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 Sms Malaria
Strengths Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sms Malaria in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sms Malaria 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sms Malaria 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sms Malaria in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Sms Malaria has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sms Malaria is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sms Malaria 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 Sms Malaria in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sms Malaria 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sms Malaria in the sector have low bargaining power. Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sms Malaria to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Sms Malaria
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sms Malaria does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sms Malaria 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sms Malaria is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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.
Weaknesses Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms Malaria has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sms Malaria is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sms Malaria needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sms Malaria to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Donald A. Marchand, Anna Moncef suggests that, Sms Malaria 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sms Malaria products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sms Malaria needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa, is just above the industry average. Sms Malaria needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sms Malaria is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sms Malaria 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sms Malaria is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa, it seems that the employees of Sms Malaria 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sms Malaria 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 - Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sms Malaria has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Opportunities Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa | 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sms Malaria 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sms Malaria can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sms Malaria operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Sms Malaria 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 Sms Malaria 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.
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 Sms Malaria 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sms Malaria can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sms Malaria can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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 Sms Malaria in the consumer business. Now Sms Malaria can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sms Malaria has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sms Malaria to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa case study. Sms Malaria can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Sms Malaria can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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.
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. Sms Malaria can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Sms Malaria 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sms Malaria 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.
Threats Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa, Sms Malaria 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 .
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 Sms Malaria in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sms Malaria 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sms Malaria
– 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 Sms Malaria.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sms Malaria with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sms Malaria 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.
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.
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 Sms Malaria.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sms Malaria is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Sms Malaria needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Sms Malaria 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. Sms Malaria can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Sms Malaria 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sms Malaria 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms For Life (A): A Public-Private Collaboration To Prevent Stock-Outs Of Life Saving Marlaria Drugs In Africa 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 Sms Malaria needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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