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Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens


Ronald W. Dollens recently retired from the positions of CEO and president of Guidant Corp., an Indianapolis-based medical technology manufacturer. Dollens was appointed CEO and president of Guidant when the company was formed as a split-off of Eli Lilly and Co. in 1994. During his 10 years of leadership at Guidant, the firm grew at an average of 18% per year, from just under $900 million in sales in 1994 to $3.7 billion in 2003. Today, Guidant employs more than 12,000 and is an industry leader in cardiovascular technology.

Authors :: Catherine M. Dalton

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Leadership, Manufacturing, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens" written by Catherine M. Dalton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Guidant Dollens facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Manufacturing, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens casestudy better are - – technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guidant Dollens, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guidant Dollens
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 Guidant Dollens




Strengths Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Guidant Dollens in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Guidant Dollens in the sector have low bargaining power. Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Guidant Dollens to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

High brand equity

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

Analytics focus

– Guidant Dollens 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 Catherine M. Dalton 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Guidant Dollens 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Guidant Dollens is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Diverse revenue streams

– Guidant Dollens is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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.

Strong track record of project management

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

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Guidant Dollens in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Innovation driven organization

– Guidant Dollens is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.






Weaknesses Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens are -

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 Guidant Dollens supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Guidant Dollens vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Catherine M. Dalton suggests that, Guidant Dollens 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, it seems that the employees of Guidant Dollens 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Guidant Dollens 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Guidant Dollens, firm in the HBR case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Need for greater diversity

– Guidant Dollens 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 star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Guidant Dollens has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Guidant Dollens is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Guidant Dollens is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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, Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens | 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens are -

Buying journey improvements

– Guidant Dollens can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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.

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. Guidant Dollens can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Guidant Dollens 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, Guidant Dollens 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, Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, 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 Guidant Dollens 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 Guidant Dollens to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Increase in government spending

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

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guidant Dollens 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Guidant Dollens 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Guidant Dollens to increase its market reach. Guidant Dollens will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Guidant Dollens 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.

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 Guidant Dollens in the consumer business. Now Guidant Dollens can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Guidant Dollens 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.

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. Guidant Dollens 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. Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens are -

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 Guidant Dollens.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

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

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Guidant Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens .

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. Guidant Dollens needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Guidant Dollens 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.

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 Guidant Dollens business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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. Guidant Dollens can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Guidant Dollens is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Guidant Dollens 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Guidant Dollens 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

– Guidant Dollens 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. Guidant Dollens can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Increasing wage structure of Guidant Dollens

– 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 Guidant Dollens.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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 Guidant Dollens needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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