Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?
This is a Darden case study.The partnership between Abbott and the government of Tanzania continued to flourish. As a demonstration of Abbott's long-term commitment to Tanzania, in 2007, the Abbott Fund opened its first office outside Abbott headquarters in Illinois. The new office in Dar es Salaam, led by Divisional Vice President Christy Wistar, oversaw the expanding number of philanthropic projects in Tanzania. In June 2007, Abbott CEO Miles White returned to Tanzania for the third time and announced the Abbott Fund's future plans to modernize the 23 regional laboratories across Tanzania. By the end of 2007, the Abbott Fund had invested more than $50 million in Tanzania alone, strengthening and modernizing the health care infrastructure and systems countrywide. The Abbott Fund planned to continue its support of numerous programs and organizations that were working to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS and deliver effective care and treatment to HIV-infected patients. The Abbott Fund also supported programs that provided for the basic needs of orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa and India.
Authors :: Pat Werhane, Jenny Mead
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Ethics, Innovation, International business, Leadership, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?" written by Pat Werhane, Jenny Mead includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Abbott Tanzania facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Innovation, International business, Leadership, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Abbott Tanzania, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Abbott Tanzania
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 Abbott Tanzania
Strengths Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Abbott Tanzania in Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Abbott Tanzania to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Abbott Tanzania to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Abbott Tanzania is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Abbott Tanzania 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.
Training and development
– Abbott Tanzania has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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.
Organizational Resilience of Abbott Tanzania
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Abbott Tanzania does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Abbott Tanzania has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Abbott Tanzania to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Abbott Tanzania in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Abbott Tanzania 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.
Analytics focus
– Abbott Tanzania 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 Pat Werhane, Jenny Mead 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
– Abbott Tanzania is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Abbott Tanzania is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Abbott Tanzania, firm in the HBR case study Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Abbott Tanzania supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Abbott Tanzania vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Abbott Tanzania 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 - Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?, is just above the industry average. Abbott Tanzania 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Abbott Tanzania is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Abbott Tanzania needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Abbott Tanzania to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?, in the dynamic environment Abbott Tanzania has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Abbott Tanzania has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Abbott Tanzania products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Abbott Tanzania needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Abbott Tanzania 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Abbott Tanzania 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. Abbott Tanzania 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pat Werhane, Jenny Mead suggests that, Abbott Tanzania 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.
Opportunities Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? | 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Abbott Tanzania 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Abbott Tanzania has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Abbott Tanzania to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? case study. Abbott Tanzania can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott Tanzania can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Abbott Tanzania to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Abbott Tanzania in the consumer business. Now Abbott Tanzania can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Abbott Tanzania can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Abbott Tanzania 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, Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott Tanzania to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Abbott Tanzania 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. Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Abbott Tanzania 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.
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 Abbott Tanzania business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Abbott Tanzania has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Abbott Tanzania 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Abbott Tanzania 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
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. Abbott Tanzania can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Abbott Tanzania
– 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 Abbott Tanzania.
Regulatory challenges
– Abbott Tanzania 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.
Environmental challenges
– Abbott Tanzania 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. Abbott Tanzania can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Abbott Tanzania.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? 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 Abbott Tanzania needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
