Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B)
The epilogue to Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A), the B case details the outcome of the issues discussed in Case A; namely that Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor did implement the TSCC contract. Virginia Mason also kept the suture contract with O&M because the TSCC model was able to prove that O&M was the low-cost provider. Case B also gives results metrics, such as reduction in line items, orders, and days sales outstanding.
Swot Analysis of "Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B)" written by V.G. Narayanan, Lisa Brem includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mason Owens facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Negotiations, Performance measurement, Pricing, Supply chain and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mason Owens, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mason Owens 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mason Owens
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mason Owens
Strengths Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mason Owens in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mason Owens 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.
High brand equity
– Mason Owens has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mason Owens to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mason Owens digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mason Owens 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mason Owens to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mason Owens to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mason Owens in the sector have low bargaining power. Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mason Owens to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Mason Owens has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Mason Owens
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mason Owens does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mason Owens in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Mason Owens is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Mason Owens 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 Mason Owens in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mason Owens is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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.
Weaknesses Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mason Owens 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mason Owens is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mason Owens is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Mason Owens needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mason Owens to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mason Owens 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B), in the dynamic environment Mason Owens has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mason Owens has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Mason Owens 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mason Owens, firm in the HBR case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Mason Owens supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mason Owens vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mason Owens is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mason Owens 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.
Opportunities Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) | 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) are -
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 Mason Owens in the consumer business. Now Mason Owens can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mason Owens 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mason Owens to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Mason Owens 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. Mason Owens 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mason Owens 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mason Owens 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mason Owens 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mason Owens can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mason Owens operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mason Owens has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mason Owens to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) case study. Mason Owens 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, Mason Owens is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mason Owens can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Mason Owens can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mason Owens 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 Mason Owens to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Mason Owens can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Threats Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) are -
Increasing wage structure of Mason Owens
– 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 Mason Owens.
Environmental challenges
– Mason Owens 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. Mason Owens can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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. Mason Owens 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mason Owens in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mason Owens 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.
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 Mason Owens business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mason Owens 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mason Owens 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.
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. Mason Owens needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mason Owens is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Mason Owens 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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.
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 Mason Owens in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B) 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 Mason Owens needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
