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The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)


In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge fund activist, Pershing Square had quietly amassed a 9.7% stake in Allergan prior to the Valeant bid, making Pershing Square Allergan's largest shareholder. The case presents students with many of the decisions Allergan's directors faced amid challenges to Allergan's governance, management, and business model. In particular, the Allergan board must decide whether to pursue a $10 billion acquisition of Salix Pharmaceuticals while under threat of a proxy contest and a special shareholder meeting to vote on replacing Allergan's directors with a slate more favorable to the Valeant merger. The proposed Salix acquisition would give Allergan a new therapeutic market but would also make Allergan too big for Valeant to acquire.

Authors :: Lynn Sharp Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John Coates, David Lane

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Business law, Business models, Corporate communications, Financial management, Financial markets, Leading teams, Mergers & acquisitions, Regulation, Research & development, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)" written by Lynn Sharp Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John Coates, David Lane includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Allergan Allergan's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business law, Business models, Corporate communications, Financial management, Financial markets, Leading teams, Mergers & acquisitions, Regulation, Research & development and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Allergan Allergan's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Allergan Allergan's 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Allergan Allergan's
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 Allergan Allergan's




Strengths The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Allergan Allergan's in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Diverse revenue streams

– Allergan Allergan's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Allergan Allergan's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Allergan Allergan's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High brand equity

– Allergan Allergan's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Allergan Allergan's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Analytics focus

– Allergan Allergan's 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 Lynn Sharp Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John Coates, David Lane 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Allergan Allergan's 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Allergan Allergan's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Allergan Allergan's 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.

Training and development

– Allergan Allergan's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Allergan Allergan's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Allergan Allergan's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Strong track record of project management

– Allergan Allergan's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Allergan Allergan's 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Allergan Allergan's 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) - 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 Allergan Allergan's 's lucrative customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Allergan Board Under Fire (A), in the dynamic environment Allergan Allergan's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Allergan Allergan's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 Allergan Allergan's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynn Sharp Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John Coates, David Lane suggests that, Allergan Allergan's 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Allergan Allergan's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Allergan Allergan's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Allergan Allergan's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Allergan Allergan's 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Allergan Allergan's 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Allergan Allergan's products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Allergan Allergan's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Allergan Allergan's 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Allergan Allergan's 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.

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 Allergan Allergan's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Allergan Board Under Fire (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Allergan Allergan's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.




Opportunities The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) | 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) are -

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. Allergan Allergan's 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. Allergan Allergan's 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 Allergan Allergan's 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Allergan Allergan's 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Allergan Allergan's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Allergan Allergan's 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.

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. Allergan Allergan's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Developing new processes and practices

– Allergan Allergan's 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Allergan Allergan's 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 Allergan Allergan's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Loyalty marketing

– Allergan Allergan's 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Allergan Allergan's 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Allergan Allergan's 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Allergan Allergan's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Allergan Allergan's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) case study. Allergan Allergan's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Allergan Allergan's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Allergan Allergan's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Buying journey improvements

– Allergan Allergan's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) are -

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Allergan Allergan's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Allergan Allergan's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Allergan Allergan's 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.

Increasing wage structure of Allergan Allergan's

– 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 Allergan Allergan's.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Allergan Allergan's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Allergan Allergan's 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Allergan Allergan's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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 Allergan Allergan's.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Allergan Allergan's 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Allergan Allergan's 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.

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. Allergan Allergan's 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.

Environmental challenges

– Allergan Allergan's 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. Allergan Allergan's 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Allergan Allergan's 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) 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 Allergan Allergan's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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