Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster
In December 2007, the Economics & International Affairs director of the competitiveness cluster, Lyonbiopole, was responsible for the international development of the cluster. Lyonbiopole was one of seven biotechnology clusters in France. Although Lyonbiopole performed very well at the national level, its visibility as an international cluster in the biotechnology field was uncertain. Yet, for its member firms to thrive in the globalized world of biotechnology clusters, establishing international connections for the cluster was crucial. That is why the management team of Lyonbiopole developed an internationalization program through alliances with foreign clusters (i.e. interclusteral alliances). By improving its international visibility and reputation through alliances with world-class biotechnology clusters, Lyonbiopole hoped to create new technological partnerships, increase investment, and create other kinds of opportunities for member firms. After having successfully established alliance partnerships in Europe, Lyonbiopole was preparing for the second stage in its internationalization process. The case highlights the questions - in the context of industrial clusters - whether or not a smaller organization can approach an industry leader to create a mutually beneficial alliance, and how it might accomplish this.
Swot Analysis of "Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster" written by Anthony Goerzen, Ana Colovic includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lyonbiopole Clusters facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Joint ventures and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lyonbiopole Clusters, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lyonbiopole Clusters
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Lyonbiopole Clusters
Strengths Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lyonbiopole Clusters in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lyonbiopole Clusters is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Lyonbiopole Clusters is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Organizational Resilience of Lyonbiopole Clusters
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lyonbiopole Clusters does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Lyonbiopole Clusters is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Anthony Goerzen, Ana Colovic can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lyonbiopole Clusters in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lyonbiopole Clusters to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lyonbiopole Clusters to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lyonbiopole Clusters in the sector have low bargaining power. Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lyonbiopole Clusters to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Lyonbiopole Clusters in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Lyonbiopole Clusters is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Lyonbiopole Clusters is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Lyonbiopole Clusters 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Lyonbiopole Clusters has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lyonbiopole Clusters is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Lyonbiopole Clusters needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lyonbiopole Clusters to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 - Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lyonbiopole Clusters is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster, it seems that the employees of Lyonbiopole Clusters don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
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 Lyonbiopole Clusters supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Lyonbiopole Clusters vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anthony Goerzen, Ana Colovic suggests that, Lyonbiopole Clusters is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Opportunities Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster | 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lyonbiopole Clusters to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lyonbiopole Clusters 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, Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Lyonbiopole Clusters to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Lyonbiopole Clusters 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. Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Lyonbiopole Clusters to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Buying journey improvements
– Lyonbiopole Clusters can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lyonbiopole Clusters can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lyonbiopole Clusters has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lyonbiopole Clusters to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster case study. Lyonbiopole Clusters can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Lyonbiopole Clusters can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Global Business segment.
Threats Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster are -
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 Lyonbiopole Clusters.
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 Lyonbiopole Clusters in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Lyonbiopole Clusters
– 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 Lyonbiopole Clusters.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lyonbiopole Clusters high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster, Lyonbiopole Clusters may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lyonbiopole Clusters demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Lyonbiopole Clusters with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Lyonbiopole Clusters 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Lyonbiopole Clusters 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lyonbiopole Clusters has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lyonbiopole Clusters needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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. Lyonbiopole Clusters needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lyonbiopole Clusters is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole: The Challenge of Becoming a World-class Biotechnology Cluster 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 Lyonbiopole Clusters needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.