McCarthy & Stone PLC (MCS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for McCarthy & Stone PLC (United Kingdom)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , McCarthy & Stone PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of McCarthy & Stone PLC

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that McCarthy & Stone PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the McCarthy & Stone PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of McCarthy & Stone PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of McCarthy & Stone PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of McCarthy & Stone PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Healthcare Facilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of McCarthy & Stone PLC

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Strengths of McCarthy & Stone PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of McCarthy & Stone PLC are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Healthcare Facilities industry

– McCarthy & Stone PLC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled McCarthy & Stone PLC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped McCarthy & Stone PLC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at McCarthy & Stone PLC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Healthcare Facilities industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For McCarthy & Stone PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Analytics focus

– McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 Healthcare Facilities industry. The technology infrastructure of United Kingdom is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Strong track record of project management in the Healthcare Facilities industry

– McCarthy & Stone PLC is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Innovation driven organization

– McCarthy & Stone PLC is one of the most innovative firm in Healthcare Facilities sector.

Successful track record of launching new products

– McCarthy & Stone PLC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– McCarthy & Stone PLC is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry in United Kingdom. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United Kingdom. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Training and development

– McCarthy & Stone PLC has one of the best training and development program in Healthcare industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Diverse revenue streams

– McCarthy & Stone PLC is present in almost all the verticals within the Healthcare Facilities industry. This has provided McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– McCarthy & Stone PLC has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – McCarthy & Stone PLC staying ahead in the Healthcare Facilities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

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Weaknesses of McCarthy & Stone PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of McCarthy & Stone PLC are -

Skills based hiring in Healthcare Facilities industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, McCarthy & Stone PLC is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help McCarthy & Stone PLC to provide better information regarding Healthcare Facilities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, McCarthy & Stone PLC has high operating costs in the Healthcare Facilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract McCarthy & Stone PLC lucrative customers.

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 McCarthy & Stone PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, McCarthy & Stone PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left McCarthy & Stone PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

McCarthy & Stone PLC has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Healthcare Facilities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

High dependence on McCarthy & Stone PLC ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of McCarthy & Stone PLC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Healthcare Facilities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though McCarthy & Stone PLC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Lack of clear differentiation of McCarthy & Stone PLC products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, McCarthy & Stone PLC needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of McCarthy & Stone PLC, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Healthcare Facilities industry. 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, McCarthy & Stone PLC has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Healthcare Facilities industry over the last five years. McCarthy & Stone PLC even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at McCarthy & Stone PLC, in the dynamic environment of Healthcare Facilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. McCarthy & Stone PLC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of McCarthy & Stone PLC is just above the Healthcare Facilities industry average. It 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.

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McCarthy & Stone PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of McCarthy & Stone PLC are -

Loyalty marketing

– McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects McCarthy & Stone PLC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Manufacturing automation

– McCarthy & Stone PLC can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Healthcare Facilities 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, McCarthy & Stone PLC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that McCarthy & Stone PLC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Healthcare Facilities sector.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Healthcare Facilities industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for McCarthy & Stone PLC in the Healthcare Facilities industry. Now McCarthy & Stone PLC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, McCarthy & Stone PLC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. McCarthy & Stone PLC can utilize new technology in the field of Healthcare Facilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of McCarthy & Stone PLC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Healthcare Facilities industry. This can help McCarthy & Stone PLC to build a more holistic ecosystem for McCarthy & Stone PLC products in the Healthcare Facilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for McCarthy & Stone PLC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Healthcare Facilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Buying journey improvements

– McCarthy & Stone PLC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Healthcare Facilities industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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, McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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Threats McCarthy & Stone PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of McCarthy & Stone PLC are -

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that McCarthy & Stone PLC is facing in Healthcare Facilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

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 McCarthy & Stone PLC in the Healthcare Facilities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC prominent markets.

Regulatory challenges

– McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 Healthcare Facilities industry regulations.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– McCarthy & Stone PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Healthcare Facilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, McCarthy & Stone PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Healthcare Facilities 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.

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.

Environmental challenges

– McCarthy & Stone PLC 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. McCarthy & Stone PLC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, McCarthy & Stone PLC may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Healthcare Facilities sector.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

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 McCarthy & Stone PLC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Healthcare Facilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. McCarthy & Stone PLC can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. McCarthy & Stone PLC 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of McCarthy & Stone PLC Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC 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 McCarthy & Stone PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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