SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Retail (Drugs) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
Strengths of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp are -
Organizational Resilience of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Drugs) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Drugs) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Drugs) industry
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Drugs) 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.
Learning organization
- Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Drugs) industry
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Weaknesses of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is one of the leading players in the Retail (Drugs) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Drugs) industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Drugs) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Drugs) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Drugs) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Drugs) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to provide better information regarding Retail (Drugs) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp are -
Manufacturing automation
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Drugs) sector. 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Drugs) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Drugs) industry. This can help Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to build a more holistic ecosystem for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp products in the Retail (Drugs) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to increase its market reach. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Drugs) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp in the Retail (Drugs) industry. Now Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Drugs) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Drugs) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp are -
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.
Increasing wage structure of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp
– 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp.
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. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Drugs) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp is facing in Retail (Drugs) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry regulations.
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. Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry and other sectors.
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.
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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp in the Retail (Drugs) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp in Retail (Drugs) industry. The Retail (Drugs) 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Drugs) industry are lowering. It can presents Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Drugs) sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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
– Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp 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 Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.