LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care
LifeCell International, a stem cell banking service in India, reduced its subscription pricing in 2013. The managing director and chief executive officer was considering the effects of this price differentiation strategy on his efforts to make regenerative health care affordable in India. He needed to address several critical issues, including improving awareness of regenerative therapies, disseminating product information, increasing market penetration, evaluating the new price structure, and continuing to support technological advancements.
Swot Analysis of "LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care" written by Rolla Krishna Priya, Narendra Rao Kagita, Abhijeet Shelke includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lifecell Regenerative facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lifecell Regenerative, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lifecell Regenerative 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lifecell Regenerative
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Lifecell Regenerative
Strengths LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lifecell Regenerative in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Lifecell Regenerative has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Lifecell Regenerative
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lifecell Regenerative does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Lifecell Regenerative 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 Rolla Krishna Priya, Narendra Rao Kagita, Abhijeet Shelke 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lifecell Regenerative to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lifecell Regenerative to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lifecell Regenerative is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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
– Lifecell Regenerative is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lifecell Regenerative has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lifecell Regenerative has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Lifecell Regenerative 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 Lifecell Regenerative in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lifecell Regenerative 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lifecell Regenerative 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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.
High brand equity
– Lifecell Regenerative has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lifecell Regenerative to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rolla Krishna Priya, Narendra Rao Kagita, Abhijeet Shelke suggests that, Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lifecell Regenerative is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lifecell Regenerative is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Lifecell Regenerative needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lifecell Regenerative to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care, in the dynamic environment Lifecell Regenerative has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lifecell Regenerative has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Lifecell Regenerative has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 Lifecell Regenerative has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lifecell Regenerative 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 - LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care, is just above the industry average. Lifecell Regenerative 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Lifecell Regenerative has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care | 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lifecell Regenerative can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lifecell Regenerative operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lifecell Regenerative can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Lifecell Regenerative can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lifecell Regenerative 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, LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lifecell Regenerative is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Lifecell Regenerative can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Lifecell Regenerative 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. Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Lifecell Regenerative to increase its market reach. Lifecell Regenerative 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.
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 Lifecell Regenerative in the consumer business. Now Lifecell Regenerative can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lifecell Regenerative in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Lifecell Regenerative can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Threats LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care are -
Environmental challenges
– Lifecell Regenerative 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. Lifecell Regenerative can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lifecell Regenerative 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lifecell Regenerative in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Lifecell Regenerative 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lifecell Regenerative is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Lifecell Regenerative can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care, Lifecell Regenerative may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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. Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lifecell Regenerative 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 LifeCell International: Gifting Futuristic Life Care 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 Lifecell Regenerative needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
