MoGen Inc Case Study Solution & Analysis

In most courses studied at Harvard Business schools, students are provided with a case study. Major
HBR cases concerns on a whole industry, a whole organization or some part of organization;
profitable or non-profitable organizations. Student’s role is to analyze the case and diagnose the
situation, identify the problem and then give appropriate recommendations and steps to be taken.

To make a detailed case analysis, student should follow these steps:

STEP 1: Reading Up Harvard Case Study Method Guide:

Case study method guide is provided to students which determine the aspects of problem needed to
be considered while analyzing a case study. It is very important to have a thorough reading and
understanding of guidelines provided. However, poor guide reading will lead to misunderstanding of
case and failure of analyses. It is recommended to read guidelines before and after reading the case
to understand what is asked and how the questions are to be answered. Therefore, in-depth
understanding f case guidelines is very important.

Harvard Case Study Solutions

STEP 2: Reading The MoGen Inc Harvard Case Study:

To have a complete understanding of the case, one should focus on case reading. It is said that case
should be read two times. Initially, fast reading without taking notes and underlines should be done.
Initial reading is to get a rough idea of what information is provided for the analyses. Then, a very
careful reading should be done at second time reading of the case. This time, highlighting the
important point and mark the necessary information provided in the case. In addition, the
quantitative data in case, and its relations with other quantitative or qualitative variables should be
given more importance. Also, manipulating different data and combining with other information
available will give a new insight. However, all of the information provided is not reliable and
relevant.

When having a fast reading, following points should be noted:

Nature of organization

Nature if industry in which organization operates.

External environment that is effecting organization

Problems being faced by management

Identification of communication strategies.

Any relevant strategy that can be added.

When reading the case for second time, following points should be considered:

Decisions needed to be made and the responsible Person to make decision.

Objectives of the organization and key players in this case.

The compatibility of objectives. if not, their reconciliations and necessary redefinition.

Sources and constraints of organization from meeting its objectives.

After reading the case and guidelines thoroughly, reader should go forward and start the analyses of
the case.

STEP 3: Doing The Case Analysis Of MoGen Inc:

To make an appropriate case analyses, firstly, reader should mark the important problems that are
happening in the organization. There may be multiple problems that can be faced by any
organization. Secondly, after identifying problems in the company, identify the most concerned and
important problem that needed to be focused.

Firstly, the introduction is written. After having a clear idea of what is defined in the case, we deliver
it to the reader. It is better to start the introduction from any historical or social context. The
challenging diagnosis for MoGen Inc and the management of information is needed to be provided.
However, introduction should not be longer than 6-7 lines in a paragraph. As the most important
objective is to convey the most important message for to the reader.

After introduction, problem statement is defined. In the problem statement, the company’s most
important problem and constraints to solve these problems should be define clearly. However, the
problem should be concisely define in no more than a paragraph. After defining the problems and
constraints, analysis of the case study is begin.

STEP 4: SWOT Analysis of the MoGen Inc HBR Case Solution:

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding
of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing. SWOT for MoGen Inc is
a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and exploit the opportunities that can
be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In addition, it also identifies the weaknesses
of the organization that will help to be eliminated and manage the threats that would catch the
attention of the management.

This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from
competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The strengths and
weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are
generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is also called Internal-
External Analysis.

STRENGTHS:

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the organization:

Advantages of the organization

Activities of the company better than competitors.

Unique resources and low cost resources company have.

Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.

Unique selling proposition of the company.

WEAKNESSES:

Improvement that could be done.

Activities that can be avoided for MoGen Inc.

Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.

Factors that can reduce the sales.

Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Good opportunities that can be spotted.

Interesting trends of industry.

Opportunities for MoGen Inc can be obtained from things such as:

Change in technology and market strategies

Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field

Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.

Local events.

THREATS:

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

Activities of competitors.

Product and services quality standards

Threat from changing technologies

Financial/cash flow problems

Weakness that threaten the business.

Following points should be considered when applying SWOT to the analysis:

Precise and verifiable phrases should be sued.

Prioritize the points under each head, so that management can identify which step has to be taken
first.

Apply the analyses at proposed level. Clear yourself first that on what basis you have to apply SWOT
matrix.

Make sure that points identified should carry itself with strategy formulation process.

Use particular terms (like USP, Core Competencies Analyses etc.) to get a comprehensive picture of
analyses.

STEP 5: PESTEL/ PEST Analysis of MoGen Inc Case Solution:

Pest analyses is a widely used tool to analyze the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological,
Environmental and legal situations which can provide great and new opportunities to the company
as well as these factors can also threat the company, to be dangerous in future.

Pest analysis is very important and informative. It is used for the purpose of identifying business
opportunities and advance threat warning. Moreover, it also helps to the extent to which change is
useful for the company and also guide the direction for the change. In addition, it also helps to avoid
activities and actions that will be harmful for the company in future, including projects and
strategies.

To analyze the business objective and its opportunities and threats, following steps should be
followed:

Brainstorm and assumption the changes that should be made to organization. Answer the necessary
questions that are related to specific needs of organization

Analyze the opportunities that would be happen due to the change.

Analyze the threats and issues that would be caused due to change.
Perform cost benefit analyses and take the appropriate action.

Pest analysis

PEST FACTORS:

POLITICAL:

Next political elections and changes that will happen in the country due to these elections

Strong and powerful political person, his point of view on business policies and their effect on the
organization.

Strength of property rights and law rules. And its ratio with corruption and organized crimes.
Changes in these situation and its effects.

Change in Legislation and taxation effects on the company

Trend of regulations and deregulations. Effects of change in business regulations

Timescale of legislative change.

Other political factors likely to change for MoGen Inc.

ECONOMICAL:

Position and current economy trend i.e. growing, stagnant or declining.

Exchange rates fluctuations and its relation with company.

Change in Level of customer’s disposable income and its effect.

Fluctuation in unemployment rate and its effect on hiring of skilled employees

Access to credit and loans. And its effects on company

Effect of globalization on economic environment

Considerations on other economic factors

SOCIO-CULTURAL:

Change in population growth rate and age factors, and its impacts on organization.

Effect on organization due to Change in attitudes and generational shifts.

Standards of health, education and social mobility levels. Its changes and effects on company.

Employment patterns, job market trend and attitude towards work according to different age
groups.
case study solutions

Social attitudes and social trends, change in socio culture an dits effects.

Religious believers and life styles and its effects on organization

Other socio culture factors and its impacts.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

Any new technology that company is using

Any new technology in market that could affect the work, organization or industry

Access of competitors to the new technologies and its impact on their product development/better
services.

Research areas of government and education institutes in which the company can make any efforts

Changes in infra-structure and its effects on work flow

Existing technology that can facilitate the company

Other technological factors and their impacts on company and industry

These headings and analyses would help the company to consider these factors and make a “big
picture” of company’s characteristics. This will help the manager to take the decision and drawing
conclusion about the forces that would create a big impact on company and its resources.

STEP 6: Porter’s Five Forces/ Strategic Analysis Of The MoGen Inc Case Study:

To analyze the structure of a company and its corporate strategy, Porter’s five forces model is used.
In this model, five forces have been identified which play an important part in shaping the market
and industry. These forces are used to measure competition intensity and profitability of an industry
and market.

porter’s five forces model

These forces refers to micro environment and the company ability to serve its customers and make a
profit. These five forces includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from
vertical competition. The five forces are discussed below:

THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:

as the industry have high profits, many new entrants will try to enter into the market. However, the
new entrants will eventually cause decrease in overall industry profits. Therefore, it is necessary to
block the new entrants in the industry. following factors is describing the level of threat to new
entrants:

Barriers to entry that includes copy rights and patents.

High capital requirement

Government restricted policies

Switching cost

Access to suppliers and distributions

Customer loyalty to established brands.

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES:

this describes the threat to company. If the goods and services are not up to the standard,
consumers can use substitutes and alternatives that do not need any extra effort and do not make a
major difference. For example, using Aquafina in substitution of tap water, Pepsi in alternative of
Coca Cola. The potential factors that made customer shift to substitutes are as follows:

Price performance of substitute

Switching costs of buyer

Products substitute available in the market

Reduction of quality

Close substitution are available

DEGREE OF INDUSTRY RIVALRY:

the lesser money and resources are required to enter into any industry, the higher there will be new
competitors and be an effective competitor. It will also weaken the company’s position. Following
are the potential factors that will influence the company’s competition:

Competitive advantage

Continuous innovation

Sustainable position in competitive advantage

Level of advertising

Competitive strategy

BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS:

it deals with the ability of customers to take down the prices. It mainly consists the importance of a
customer and the level of cost if a customer will switch from one product to another. The buyer
power is high if there are too many alternatives available. And the buyer power is low if there are
lesser options of alternatives and switching. Following factors will influence the buying power of
customers:

Bargaining leverage
Switching cost of a buyer

Buyer price sensitivity

Competitive advantage of company’s product

BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:

this refers to the supplier’s ability of increasing and decreasing prices. If there are few alternatives o
supplier available, this will threat the company and it would have to purchase its raw material in
supplier’s terms. However, if there are many suppliers alternative, suppliers have low bargaining
power and company do not have to face high switching cost. The potential factors that effects
bargaining power of suppliers are the following:

Input differentiation

Impact of cost on differentiation

Strength of distribution centers

Input substitute’s availability.

STEP 7: VRIO Analysis of MoGen Inc:

Vrio analysis for MoGen Inc case study identified the four main attributes which helps the
organization to gain a competitive advantages. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be
valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. Therefore there must be some
resources and capabilities in an organization that can facilitate the competitive advantage to
company. The four components of VRIO analysis are described below:

VALUABLE: the company must have some resources or strategies that can exploit opportunities and
defend the company from major threats. If the company holds some value then answer is yes.
Resources are also valuable if they provide customer satisfaction and increase customer value. This
value may create by increasing differentiation in existing product or decrease its price. Is these
conditions are not met, company may lead to competitive disadvantage. Therefore, it is necessary to
continually review the MoGen Inc company’s activities and resources values.

RARE: the resources of the MoGen Inc company that are not used by any other company are known
as rare. Rare and valuable resources grant much competitive advantages to the firm. However, when
more than one few companies uses the same resources and provide competitive parity are also
known as rare resources. Even, the competitive parity is not desired position, but the company
should not lose its valuable resources, even they are common.

COSTLY TO IMITATE: the resources are costly to imitate, if other organizations cannot imitate it.
However, imitation is done in two ways. One is duplicating that is direct imitation and the other one
is substituting that is indirect imitation.

Any firm who has valuable and rare resources, and these resources are costly to imitate, have
achieved their competitive advantage. However, resources should also be perfectly non sustainable.
The reasons that resource imitation is costly are historical conditions, casual ambiguity and social
complexity.

ORGANIZED TO CAPTURE VALUE: resources, itself, cannot provide advantages to organization until it
is organized and exploit to do so. A firm (like MoGen Inc) must organize its management systems,
processes, policies and strategies to fully utilize the resource’s potential to be valuable, rare and
costly to imitate.

STEP 8: Generating Alternatives For MoGen Inc Case Solution:

After completing the analyses of the company, its opportunities and threats, it is important to
generate a solution of the problem and the alternatives a company can apply in order to solve its
problems. To generate the alternative of problem, following things must to be kept in mind:

Realistic solution should be identified that can be operated in the company, with all its constraints
and opportunities.

as the problem and its solution cannot occur at the same time, it should be described as mutually
exclusive

it is not possible for a company to not to take any action, therefore, the alternative of doing nothing
is not viable.

Student should provide more than one decent solution. Providing two undesirable alternatives to
make the other one attractive is not acceptable.

Once the alternatives have been generated, student should evaluate the options and select the
appropriate and viable solution for the company.

STEP 9: Selection Of Alternatives For MoGen Inc Case Solution:

It is very important to select the alternatives and then evaluate the best one as the company have
limited choices and constraints. Therefore to select the best alternative, there are many factors that
is needed to be kept in mind. The criteria’s on which business decisions are to be selected areas
under:

Improve profitability

Increase sales, market shares, return on investments

Customer satisfaction

Brand image

Corporate mission, vision and strategy

Resources and capabilities

Alternatives should be measures that which alternative will perform better than other one and the
valid reasons. In addition, alternatives should be related to the problem statements and issues
described in the case study.

STEP 10: Evaluation Of Alternatives For MoGen Inc Case Solution:

STEP 11: Recommendations For MoGen Inc Case Study (Solution):

There should be only one recommendation to enhance the company’s operations and its growth or
solving its problems. The decision that is being taken should be justified and viable for solving the
problems.