Swot Analysis of "The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact" written by Afshin Mehrpouya, Diane-Laure Arjalies, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that W17012 Index facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the W17012 Index, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which W17012 Index 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of W17012 Index
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 W17012 Index
Strengths The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of W17012 Index in The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of W17012 Index
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that W17012 Index does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– W17012 Index 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– W17012 Index is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of W17012 Index in the sector have low bargaining power. The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps W17012 Index to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of W17012 Index in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– W17012 Index 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– W17012 Index 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 Afshin Mehrpouya, Diane-Laure Arjalies, Ken Mark 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– W17012 Index has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. W17012 Index 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– W17012 Index 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 W17012 Index in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled W17012 Index to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped W17012 Index to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– W17012 Index is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at W17012 Index 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of W17012 Index is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. W17012 Index needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help W17012 Index to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, W17012 Index 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. W17012 Index 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 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 W17012 Index supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left W17012 Index vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of W17012 Index products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, W17012 Index 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 The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact, is just above the industry average. W17012 Index 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 W17012 Index has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, W17012 Index 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 W17012 Index 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, W17012 Index is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, W17012 Index 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 The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact | 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact are -
Buying journey improvements
– W17012 Index can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, W17012 Index 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, The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of W17012 Index has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help W17012 Index to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact case study. W17012 Index can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, W17012 Index is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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.
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 W17012 Index 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.
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. W17012 Index 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. W17012 Index 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– W17012 Index 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– W17012 Index 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help W17012 Index to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for W17012 Index 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, W17012 Index 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for W17012 Index 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at W17012 Index 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.
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. W17012 Index can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact are -
Increasing wage structure of W17012 Index
– 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 W17012 Index.
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 W17012 Index.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that W17012 Index is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– W17012 Index has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, W17012 Index 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 W17012 Index 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact, W17012 Index 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 .
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 W17012 Index business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents W17012 Index with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– W17012 Index 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.
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 W17012 Index in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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, W17012 Index 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 The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact .
Environmental challenges
– W17012 Index 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. W17012 Index can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 Access to Medicine Index (B): Making an Impact 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 W17012 Index needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
