Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada
The Canadian brand manager of Zelboraf had to decide how to introduce and price Zelboraf in the Canadian market. Zelboraf was a breakthrough discovery in treatment for melanoma cancer patients. Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche) began developing Zelboraf in 2005. During the clinical trials, the drug yielded such positive results in targeting late-stage (metastatic) melanoma cancer that Roche ended clinical trials early in order to expedite FDA approval and market launch. A competitor was developing a drug-Dabrafenib-that targeted the same segment of patients with B-RAF genes. It was unclear if this specific market segment could support two similar products. It was also unclear whether Dabrafenib's Canadian market launch would affect the likelihood that Zelboraf got on the approved drug list to secure government reimbursement. The brand manager and her team also needed to determine the right price point for Zelboraf. Roche had to set a price that ensured profitability, but did not compromise Zelboraf's competitive position.
Swot Analysis of "Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada" written by Mark Zbaracki, Jedy Wang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Zelboraf Roche facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zelboraf Roche, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zelboraf Roche
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 Zelboraf Roche
Strengths Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zelboraf Roche in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zelboraf Roche to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zelboraf Roche to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Zelboraf Roche 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 Zelboraf Roche is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zelboraf Roche is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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
– Zelboraf Roche has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Zelboraf Roche to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Zelboraf Roche is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Zelboraf Roche in the sector have low bargaining power. Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zelboraf Roche to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Zelboraf Roche
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Zelboraf Roche does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Zelboraf Roche has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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.
Weaknesses Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Zelboraf Roche 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Zelboraf Roche 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Zelboraf Roche 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. Zelboraf Roche 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Zelboraf Roche 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 Zelboraf Roche 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 Zelboraf Roche is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Zelboraf Roche needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zelboraf Roche to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Zelboraf Roche 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mark Zbaracki, Jedy Wang suggests that, Zelboraf Roche 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zelboraf Roche 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada HBR case study mentions - Zelboraf Roche takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Opportunities Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada | 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada are -
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. Zelboraf Roche can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zelboraf Roche 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zelboraf Roche 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, Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Zelboraf Roche to increase its market reach. Zelboraf Roche 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zelboraf Roche to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Zelboraf Roche 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zelboraf Roche can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Zelboraf Roche 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zelboraf Roche 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Zelboraf Roche can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Buying journey improvements
– Zelboraf Roche can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zelboraf Roche 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Zelboraf Roche can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Zelboraf Roche 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 Zelboraf Roche 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Zelboraf Roche with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Zelboraf Roche in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Zelboraf Roche 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 Zelboraf Roche
– 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 Zelboraf Roche.
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. Zelboraf Roche 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Zelboraf Roche 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Zelboraf Roche 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
– Zelboraf Roche 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zelboraf Roche 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zelboraf Roche 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Hoffmann-La Roche: Pricing the Zelboraf Melanoma Treatment for Canada 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 Zelboraf Roche needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
