SWOT – Dr. Reddy’s

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. formed by Dr. K. Anji Reddy in 1984, is now a global pharmaceutical company with presence in over 115 countries worldwide. It was the first Asia-Pacific (outside-Japan) country to be listed in NYSE in year 2001. For the fiscal year ended March 2008, consolidated revenues reached $1.25 billion, a 23% decrease on the previous year.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

Wholly owned subsidiaries in US and Europe

Joint ventures in China and South Africa

Markets pharmaceutical products in 115 countries

Partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies like Novartis, NOVO Nordisk, etc.

Strong product portfolio

Manufacture and market over 250 medicines targeting a wide range of therapies

Wide range of anti-cancer drugs developed

Over 100 APIs developed

Six New Chemical Entities(NCE

Low cost base

Contributes to company’s high profit margin of around 34% of sales

Partnerships with key players in the market keeps its cost base down

Research Driven & Global Talent

Expertise in developing innovative product formulations

6120 employees worldwide including 951 scientists in which 323 are dedicated towards new drug discovery research

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Weaknesses:

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High amount of revenues from overseas

India - a rich source of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), hence major source of revenue is exports of APIs. May loose out to western world, especially Europe, where currency is much more stable than the Indian Rupee

Over-reliance on partnerships

In order to compete effectively in global markets, strategic partnerships required to develop products.

Lack of resources similar to US and Europe based competitors to develop a drug to marketing stage

Generic drugs smallest focus

Smallest portion of revenues from generics at around 20%

Lack of patent legislation in India harms sales of its products

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Opportunities:

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Take a drug all the way to market

Take a molecule from its pipeline all the way to the market place cost-effectively market

Buy back of the integrated drug development company from ICICI Ventures and Citigroup

Domestic Generic drugs market

In another 4-6 years, many product patents obtained after the 2004 legislation will go off providing an opportunity to the company increase its domestic footprint in Generics

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Threats:
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Needs to gain FDA approval for all sources and products

Products have to pass strict FDA trials before going to market, which can be costly and time consuming

This may delay the company entry to particular markets which affects revenue

Competition from US and European Companies

Based in lucrative markets e.g. Novartis, Merck & Co

Revenues running into billions which dwarfs Reddy’s annual turnover Litigation charges

Reddy’s lost the case against Pfizer for the use of generic form of Norvasc drug. Legal cost $10m and also loss of market opportunity.

Heightened concerns about profitability of German generics business of Betapharm

SWOT – Standard Chartered

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Strong presence in India – 150 years of banking in India.

Provides the convenience of online banking to access information about various accounts and also transfer money

Strong Brand Name – worldwide presence.

Variety of services offered

Weaknesses

ATM coverage not as good as other private banks

Services do not cater to the mass

Advertising is not aggressive

Credit card facilities not as good as other private banks

Not many branch networks

Opportunities

Government removing restrictions on foreign banks in 2009, would allow those banks to open shop in India. Stan C has an opportunity to increase its branches in India, and further utilize its brand image here.

Scope for more effective use of their brand name

Can start new departments like a brokerage firm

Threats

Emergence of Indian private banks

Nationalization of banks – these banks have many more branch networks than foreign banks

Some unique strategies:

To build and grow strong businesses in East and South East Asia- the Asia Pacific Region.

To enhance historical position in the Middle East and South Asia region.

To provide support in newly industrialized and emerging markets.

Capitalize on the good track record in these regions by building unique position and image among the target customer segment and being responsive to the needs and serve better than the competitors.

To concentrate operations in the activities that have direct impact on the communities of the countries; help the country and its economy and at the same time earn profit in an ethical way.

SWOT – SBI

Objective of SBI: “Purposeful banking sub serving the growing and diversified financial needs of planned economic development of the country”

SWOT analysis:

Strengths:

BRAND NAME: SBI Bank has earned a reputation in the market over the period of time(Being the oldest bank in India tracing history back to 1806)

Market Leader: SBI is ranked at 380 in 2008 Fortune Global 500 list, and ranked 219 in 2008 Forbes Global 2000. With an asset base of $126 billion and its reach, it is a regional banking behemoth.

Wide Distribution Network:

Excellent penetration in the country with more than 10000 core branches and more than 5100 branches of associate banks (subsidiaries).

Diversified Portfolio: SBI Bank has all the products under its belt, which help it to extend the relationship with existing customer.SBI Bank has umbrella of products to offer their customers, if once customer has relationship with the bank. Some Products, which SBI Bank is offering are: Retail Banking Business Banking Merchant Establishment Services (EDC Machine) Personal loans & Car loans Insurance Housing Loans

Government Owned: Government owns 60% stake in SBI. This gives SBI an edge over private banks in terms of customer security.

Low Transition Costs-SBI offers very low transition costs which attracts small customers.

Weaknesses:

The existing hierarchical management structure of the bank, although strength in some respects, is a barrier to change.

Though SBI cards are the 2nd largest player in the credit card industry, it has the highest non performing assets (NPAs) in the industry, which stand out to be at 16.28 % (Dec 2007).

Modernisation: SBI lags with respect to private players in terms of modernisation of its processes, infrastructure, centralisation, etc.

Opportunities:

Merger of associate banks with SBI: Merger of all the associate banks (like SBH, SBM, etc) into SBI will create a mega bank which streamlines operations and unlocks value.

Planning to add 2000 branches and 3000 ATMs in 2008-2009. This will further increase its reach.

Increasing trade and business relations and a large number of expatriate populations offers a great opportunity to expand on foreign soil.

Threats:

Advent of MNC banks: Large numbers of MNC banks are mushrooming in the Indian market due to the friendly policies adopted by the government. This can increase the level of competition and prove a potential threat for the market share of SBI bank.

Consumer expectations have increased many folds in last few years and the bank has not been responsive enough to meet them on time.

Private banks have started venturing into the rural and semi-urban sector, which used to be the bastion of the State Bank and other PSU banks

Employee Strike: There was an employee strike in the year 2006 which disrupted SBI’s activities. This can be repeated in the future.

SWOT - Morgan Stanley

Objective: “To serve as the preeminent financial advisor to companies, governments and investors from around the world.”

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

Market leader: Morgan Stanley also operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with an approximate employee workforce of 45,000.The company reports US$779 billion as assets under its management.

Good reputation in market: Morgan Stanley has been associated with some of the biggest corporate financings and public offerings in history, most notably the U.S. rail financing of 1939, Shell Union debenture of 1946, Jersey Standard's transaction of 1949, Apple common stock IPO of 1980, Conoco IPO of 1998 and the Google IPO in 2004.

Ability to continuously reinvent itself: Since its founding in 1935, Morgan Stanley and its people have helped redefine the meaning of financial services. The firm has continually broken new ground in advising its clients on strategic transactions, in pioneering the global expansion of finance and capital markets, and in providing new opportunities for individual and institutional investors. Morgan Stanley's growth, which parallels the history of modern finance. The firm credits itself with the first ever computer model for financial analysis.

Weaknesses:

Uncertainty about management: The company found itself in the midst of a management crisis in the late 90s that saw it lose a lot of talent and competence and ultimately saw the firing of its then CEO Philip Purcell in 2005. Since then Morgan Stanley has been undergoing a massive restructuring which also involved job cuts across several of its businesses.

Cyclical nature of business: Performance of Morgan Stanley is cyclical and dependent upon economy. As the economy is cyclical, the firm goes into a bad phase when the economy goes form peak to trough.

Controversies and Lawsuits: In 2003, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay billions of dollars in order to settle its portion of various legal actions and investigations brought by Eliott Spitzer, the Attorney General of New York, the National Association of Securities Dealers (Now FINRA), the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) and a number of state securities regulators, relating to fraud that was allegedly perpetrated upon retail investors by a dozen of the largest investment banking securities brokerage firms.

Opportunities:

Emerging markets: Morgan Stanley is enhancing its presence in South Korea and Russia by obtaining licenses. It can use its reputation to expand rapidly in emerging markets to boost its growth.

Rise in global savings: Global saving has risen steadily over the past several decades, but contrary to widespread belief, the rise in recent years has been no faster than the expansion of world GDP. In fact, the overall global saving rate stood at 22.8% of world GDP in 2006 – basically unchanged from the 23.0% reading in 1990. At the same time, there has been an important shift in the mix of global saving – away from the rich countries of the developed world toward the poor countries of the developing world. This development, rather than overall trends in global saving, is likely to remain a critical issue for the world economy and financial markets in the years ahead.

Utilization of equity capital: Employment of Morgan Stanley’s equity capital in investment ideas would increase returns to the firm

Threats:

Competition from big players: The investment banking business is flooded with high competition from big players like Citigroup Global, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, etc.

Subprime Crisis: The subprime mortgage problem has now yielded a full-blown credit squeeze on Wall Street with securities firms' stock prices at fire-sale levels. The new fire-sale buyers are the so-called sovereign wealth funds, and China's are the most prominent.

High human capital turnover: Investment banking business is highly dependent on individuals. Human Resource management is very critical in investment banking.

SWOT – HDFC

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
1. HDFC is the strongest and most venerable play on Indian mortgages over the long term. The management of the bank is termed to be one of the best in the country.
2. HDFC has differentiated itself from its peers with its diversified network and revamped distribution strategy
3. HDFC has been highly proactive in passing on the cost and benefit to customers.
4. Besides the core business, HDFC’s insurance, AMC, banking, BPO, and real estate private equity businesses are also growing at a rapid pace and the estimated value of its investments/subsidiaries explains ~30% of HDFC’s market capitalization.

Weaknesses
1. High dependence on individual loans.
2. Major stake held by American financial groups which are under stress due to economic slowdown.

Opportunities
1. Fast growing insurance business in the country.
2. Untapped rural markets.

Threats
1. Loss of market share to commercial banks and HFC’s
2. Higher than expected increase in funding cost
3. Risk of fraud and NPA accretion due to increase in interest rates and fall in property prices is inherent to the mortgage business.

SWOT - ICICI Bank

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Brand name: earned a reputation for extending quality services.

Huge network: ICICI Bank has the highest number of linked branches in the country. The bank operates through a network of 450 BRANCHES AND over 1800 ATMs across India.

Diversified portfolio: ICICI Bank has umbrella of products to offer their customers like retail banking, Insurance, Demat services, personal loans etc.

Aggressive Marketing: ICICI Bank is known for its aggressive marketing of its products. Recent Endorsement of its product by AMITABH BAHCHAN proves the same.

Technology: ICICI bank’s technology platform has been acknowledged globally as one of the best in terms of robustness, flexibility and cost efficiency.

Salary accounts: ICICI is having an edge over other banks in case of Salary Accounts because of huge network

Weaknesses

Poor customer service: Though most of the companies are satisfied with the products offered by ICICI bank, the poor customer support/ service is creating a lot of dissatisfaction among the customers.

Little presence outside India: ICICI Bank is having little presence Outside India, because of which companies prefer MNC Bank, mainly Citibank.

High transaction costs: ICICI Bank charges high cost for its transactions. Customers are using only those facilities of ICICI Bank which are provided at cheaper rates (Salary Account) and for other services they are going to nationalize banks and MNCs (Foreign exchange)

Focus mainly on high end customers: The bank targets only the top bracket of clients and does not cater to the needs of small customers. Due to this reason the bank may sometimes loose good clients.

Opportunities

Increasing individual incomes in India.

New companies: Sectors like IT and ITES are on a boom in the Indian market context, with new companies mushrooming in the market.

Banking sectors that are planned by Indian government increase the possibility of lots of new services in banking.

Threats

Advent of MNC banks: Large numbers of MNC banks are mushrooming in the Indian market due to the friendly policies adopted by the government.

Ever improving nationalized banks: With PSU banks like SBI going all out to compete with the private banks and government giving them a free hand to do increases competition from nationalized banks as well.

SWOT - Barclays

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• The bank started first started in 1690 and enjoys strong market penetration.
• It was the first bank to launch credit cards in UK and thus the brand has become ingrained in the psyche of the consumers. This is further reinforced with the sponsorship deal for the English Premier League.
• Robust financial performance
• Increasing online security to combat fraud. The software will provide greater protection against such fraud.
• Geographically diversified operations.

Weaknesses:

• The company has a very small presence in the emerging markets of Asia. This can prove to be a strategic error of colossal nature. Nonetheless, this situation can also be turned into an opportunity.
• Lower profit margins. The 2 billion pound write-down in the value of risky assets, led to a fall in profit of 32%
• Low return on assets.

Opportunities:

• Expansion into new emerging markets like India. In fact the Barclays credit card was launched in India just a few months ago.
• Acquire a company to inorganically expand its business. Barclays tried unsuccessfully to acquire ABN AMRO of Netherlands. Now it is looking at some of the financial firms in the US like Lehman and UBS.
• Buoyant asset management market
• Positive outlook for global banking industry

Threats:

• With the high likelihood of Barclays acquiring another financial firm of similar size, it would face huge post-merger integration challenges. This would especially be sharp given its failed attempt to broker a deal with ABN AMRO. There would be negative perception and resistance among the employees of the potential target.
• The latest industry figures show that internet and e-commerce fraud on cards rose 45% in 2007, through skimming, data hacking or unsolicited emails or phone calls. This is a huge potential threat to Barclays in the future.

SWOT - HUL

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
1. Strong and well differentiated brands with leading share positions
2. Distinctly placed products providing reach to every segment of society.
3. Consumer understanding and systems for building consumer insight
4. Integrated supply chain and well spread manufacturing units
5. Distribution structure with wide reach, high quality coverage – The launch of project “Shakti” has helped HUL to create brand awareness and extensive reach in rural India.
6. Access to Unilever global technology, capability and sharing of best practices from other Unilever companies.
7. Well placed to take advantage of growth in rural India and lower strata of the society through “Shakti”.
8. It could look at introducing products from its parent company like margarine in order to cater to changing consumer tastes and opportunities in food sector.
9. It can be a leader in exports by positioning itself as a sourcing hub for Unilever companies in various countries.

Weaknesses
1. Price positioning in some categories allows for low price competition like Amul captured Kwality’s market.
2. Limited success in changing eating habits of people.
3. Competitors focusing on a particular product and eating up HUL’s share, like Nirma focusing on soaps and detergents.

Opportunities
1. Growing consumer base due to increasing income levels and new consumers from lower strata of the society
2. Untapped market in branded Ayurvedic medicines and other such consumer products.
3. Opportunity in Food sector: changing consumer tastes
4. Expansion of horizons towards more and more countries

Threats
1. Unfavourable raw material prices due to inflation, reducing profitability.
2. Heavy onslaught of competition in the core categories from emerging players like ITC will result in higher advertising expenditure
3. Spurious/counterfeit products in rural areas and small towns.
4. Reduction in real income of consumers due to high inflation.

SWOT - ITC

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:
Cigarettes are the main business. Introduction of VAT on cigarettes could have affected the sales. But the company managed to maintain market leadership and increase volume sales by 16 % last year
Cigarette business: Company uses a unique IT-enabled ‘Six Sigma’ based product development process. This product development process and the deep consumer insights give the company the unique understanding of positioning and brand development of its products.
Cigarette business: initiatives such as contemporary, internationalised packaging for ‘India Kings’ and ‘Gold Flake Kings’, multiple limited Edition Packs and flavour variants for ‘Classic’, etc have resulted in considerable fortification of your Company’s strong position in the premium, value-plus segment of the market.
Cigarette business : Modernization of Primary Manufacturing in Munger, introduction of sophisticated material handling systems at Bengaluru and implementation of cutting edge Norwegian technology – Cold Plasma Odour Abatement Systems – at the Bengaluru and Saharanpur primary manufacturing departments.
FMCG business: Relentless focus on providing consumers well-differentiated best-in-class products, supported by significant investments in product development, innovation, manufacturing technology and unmatched distribution infrastructure have dramatically enhanced brand equity of this business.
FMCG business: Ashirwad and Sunfeast continue to draw upon the agri sourcing strengths of e-Choupal network to gain competitive advantage by obtaining superior quality wheat at competitive costs.
Hotel and lifestyle retail business have shown strong growth because of booming Indian economy.

Weakness:
Cigarette business: The year ahead is fraught with extreme uncertainties, since for the first time in the history of the industry, manufacturers will not be able to position viable offers for consumers of non-filter cigarettes in view of the massive increase in excise duty rates in this segment.
Cigarette business: Harsh regulatory climate for cigarette business presents a daunting operating environment that will, undoubtedly, test the resilience of all legitimate players in the industry.
FMCG business: The year ahead presents a unique challenge to the business in the shape of an unprecedented rise in commodity prices across the board, including wheat, vegetable oil, maize and skimmed milk powder.
FMCG business: Soaring fuel prices and the need growing volumes without adversely impacting margins has been rendered extremely challenging.

Opportunities:
Big Indian market with huge consumption capacity.
ITC is moving into new and emerging sectors including Information Technology, supporting business solutions.
e- choupal is a well thought of initiative taken by ITC which can also be used in other sectors in many other parts of the world. ITC leverages the concept of e-choupal in a novel way. The company researched the tastes of consumers in the northern, western and eastern India of atta, and then used the network to source and create the raw materials from farmers and then blend them for consumers under purposeful brand names. This concept is quite difficult for competitors to emulate.

Threats:
The obvious threat is from competition both domestic as well as international. ITC’s opportunities are likely to be opportunities for other companies as well. Therefore the dynamic of competition will alter in the medium term. Western companies might see India as an exciting opportunity for themselves to find new market segments for their own offerings.
The company is more or less still dependant on its tobacco revenues to fund up its cash guzzling FMCG start up. Cigarettes account for about 47 percent of the company’s turnover. The increasing tax on cigarettes and the growing concern of people regarding the health hazards being caused by smoking can eat up most of the profits of the company.

SWOT - P&G

Objective: “We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers, now and for generations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper.”

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:
Diversification: Product diversification with about 300 products. The diverse product mix includes personal and beauty items, household products, health and wellness, Baby and family and pet care and nutrition.
Research and development: P&G invests 3 - 4 % of Net outside Sales in research and development (R&D). This amount easily exceeds their leading competitors, among consumer products companies. They also have more Ph.D.s working in labs around the world than the combined science and engineering faculty at Harvard, MIT and Berkeley.
Innovation: In fiscal year 2004-05, P&G was granted 27,000 patents globally. P&G has produced a number of new products like diapers; shampoo and conditioner in one; toothpaste that prevents osteoporosis. Its diversified product mix helps in connecting technology across categories and brings innovation to the product.
Fat profit margins: P&G announced net sales for the April - June quarter to $21.3 billion, the growth of 10%. This is the seventh year and 24th consecutive quarter in which P&G delivered top-line growth above the company's targets.
Strong brands: P&G has 13 Billion-Dollar Sales Brands such as: Always, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Downy/Lenor, Folgers, Iams, Pampers, Pantene, Pringle's and Tide. The total sales of these thirteen ‘billion dollar brands’ taken together, would make a Fortune 100 company in itself.
Brand building: Advertisement expenditure of P&G is twice than the next company on the list of companies which spend highly on advertising. Their idea of promoting product during weekday daytime slots when mostly housewives would be available helped in building the brand in a big way.
Wide distribution network: P&G markets its products in 160 countries with manufacturing capacities in 40 countries.
Leading market position: P&G is the world's largest consumer products company. P&G is the global leader in all its 5 broad business segments.

Weaknesses:
Non-profitable products: Running products which may not be profitable but still had to do it because of keeping up with the market presence strategy. Few such products are Crest as toothpaste, Always hygiene pads, Dawn dishwashing bar.
Inadequate quality control: With large number of product profile, the quality control of all the products has deteriorated. In September 2006, P&G suspended sales of the cosmetics in China after they were found by the authorities to contain the banned substances, chromium and neodymium. The case of Rely tampon also establishes this fact.
· Mass appeal products at premium price: Some mass appeal products like Pringles are priced very high as compared to its competitor’s products.

Opportunity:
Developing markets: The economies of China and India are growing at a very fast pace. The company currently competes in only about 10 of its top 25 categories in most developing countries. This provides P&G with an opportunity to enhance its market share as well as expand its presence in other categories.
Growing bottled water market: Bottled water is a fast-growing segment in the world’s food and beverage market owing to increasing health concerns. In May 2007, P&G launched PUR Flavor Options, a product that allows consumers to choose flavored or unflavored water from their home water filter. P&G could leverage its position in the bottled water segment to capitalize on the growing demand for packaged and flavored water.
Growing healthcare industry in the US: There is a growing opportunity for disinfectant manufacturers in the healthcare industry in the US. The aging US population would lead to increased healthcare spending in the US. P&G is well positioned in the prescription drugs and healthcare segments and can leverage this trend to boost both its revenues and market share.
· Changing consumer preference: With the consumer preferences and choices, P&G because of its huge R&D base and Connect + Develop program is well placed to come up with new and innovative products that may suit the customer needs.
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Threats:
New regulations: Due to increasing public pressure, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are expected to impose stringent quality norms on cosmetic products. New regulations may delay launch of new products and result in higher product development expenditure. These regulations may impose new liabilities or increase operating expenses, either of which could result in a decline in profitability.
Competition from local low cost players: P&G faces competition from local, low-cost manufacturers in developing countries.
Customer concentration: A significant portion of the revenues from the sale of products is derived from a few customers. Sales to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. represent approximately 15% of its total revenue in 2007. The company gets more than billions of dollars from seven retail customers. The loss of any of these customers will lead to a sharp decline in its revenues.

SWOT - Nestle

Objective: “Aim to build a business as the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company based on sound human values and principles.”

SWOT analysis:

Strengths:
Diversification: Nestle has a wide product portfolio encompassing baby foods and dairy products, chocolates and breakfast cereals and food seasoning.
Joint ventures: Nestle holds joint ventures with leading businesses like Coca Cola, General Mills and L'Oreal which allow it to access their technical knowledge to further develop its own brand.
Influencing consumer decisions: With its innovative and attractive advertising campaigns Nestle is able to influence customer's buying decisions.
Established brand across the globe: With an employee base of over 200,000, annual revenues of more than $120 billion and a presence in more than a 100 countries, Nestle brings with it a strong brand name and knowledge of different markets all over the world.

Weaknesses:
Negative effects on the brand image: The investigations into the controversial advertising campaign that promoted infant milk products over breastfeeding and the usage of slave labor for its plants in African countries continue even today and Nestlé’s brand name has been negatively affected due to the media campaigns covering this issue.
Storage and transportation problems: Because the Indian food industry is not developed enough to handle complex storage and transport requirements, Nestle has a difficult job of providing product quality at centers far off from the manufacturing base.
Complex supply chain management: Nestle has a complex supply chain management and the main issue for Nestle India is its traceability.

Opportunities:
Growing middle class: The growing middle class and the high percentage of youth population provides an excellent opportunity for Nestle to use its existing range of kiosks in malls and educational institutes to build a loyal brand following.
Urbanization and nuclear families: With the Indian society moving towards a more urban and nuclear family society, Nestle has huge market for its products like Maggi and Dahi and other milk products.
· Low labour costs in developing countries: Since manufacturing of some products is cheaper in India than in other South East Asian countries, Nestle India could become an export hub for the parent in certain product categories.

Threats:
Cost of raw materials: Inflation rising at the pace that it is puts a strain on Nestle for buying its raw materials like food grains and yet maintaining its margins.
Indians perception towards fresh foods: Indians believe in eating fresh foods instead of ready to eat products, which provide a major hurdle in the marketing of Nestle products across the country.
Exports to a single location: The company’s exports stood at Rs 2,571 m at the end of 2003 (11% of revenues) and continue to grow at a decent pace. But a major portion of this comprises of Coffee (around 67% of the exports were that of Nescafe instant to Russia). This constitutes a big chunk of the total exports to a single location. Historically, Russia has been a very volatile market for Nestle, and its overall performance takes a hit often due to this factor.
Liberalization of trade and investment policies: Nestle faces immense competition from the organized as well as the unorganized sectors. Off late, to liberalize its trade and investment policies to enable the country to better function in the globalised economy, the Indian Government has reduced the import duty of food segments thus intensifying the battle.