Swot Analysis of "Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering" written by George G.C. Parker includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Affymax Initial facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Affymax Initial, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Affymax Initial 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Affymax Initial
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 Affymax Initial
Strengths Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Affymax Initial in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Affymax Initial has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Affymax Initial is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Affymax Initial
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Affymax Initial does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Affymax Initial 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Affymax Initial is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Affymax Initial digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Affymax Initial 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Affymax Initial 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Affymax Initial is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Affymax Initial in the sector have low bargaining power. Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Affymax Initial to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Affymax Initial has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Affymax Initial 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Affymax Initial in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Affymax Initial has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Affymax Initial has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering, in the dynamic environment Affymax Initial has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Affymax Initial has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Affymax Initial is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Affymax Initial supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Affymax Initial vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering, is just above the industry average. Affymax Initial needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering HBR case study mentions - Affymax Initial 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Affymax Initial, firm in the HBR case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Affymax Initial 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Affymax Initial 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.
Opportunities Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering | 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Affymax Initial 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Affymax Initial to increase its market reach. Affymax Initial 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.
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. Affymax Initial 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. Affymax Initial 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, Affymax Initial 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Affymax Initial 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Affymax Initial to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Affymax Initial 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Affymax Initial 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, Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Affymax Initial can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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.
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 Affymax Initial in the consumer business. Now Affymax Initial can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Affymax Initial 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Affymax Initial can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Affymax Initial can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Affymax Initial can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Affymax Initial operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Threats Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering are -
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. Affymax Initial 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.
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 Affymax Initial in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Affymax Initial 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.
Increasing wage structure of Affymax Initial
– 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 Affymax Initial.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Affymax Initial.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Affymax Initial has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Affymax Initial needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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 Affymax Initial business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Affymax Initial can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Affymax Initial 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Affymax Initial 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering .
Environmental challenges
– Affymax Initial 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. Affymax Initial can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Affymax Initial is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax, N.V.: An Initial Public Offering 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 Affymax Initial needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
