Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
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.
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 - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
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 -
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Guidant Dollens 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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Guidant Dollens has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Guidant Dollens 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.
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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Guidant Dollens 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 Guidant Dollens in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Learning organization
- Guidant Dollens is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Guidant Dollens is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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.
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.
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.
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 -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Guidant Dollens has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guidant Dollens 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. Guidant Dollens 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Guidant Dollens has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Guidant Dollens 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 - Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Guidant Dollens 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, in the dynamic environment Guidant Dollens has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Guidant Dollens 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 Guidant Dollens products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Guidant Dollens needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 -
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 Guidant Dollens 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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Guidant Dollens can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Guidant Dollens is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens 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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Guidant Dollens has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Guidant Dollens to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens case study. Guidant Dollens can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Leadership, Alignment, and Performance at Guidant Corp.: An Interview with Ronald W. Dollens, Guidant Dollens may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Guidant Dollens in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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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