SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Georgia Healthcare (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Georgia Healthcare is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Georgia Healthcare
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Georgia Healthcare can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Georgia Healthcare, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Georgia Healthcare
2. Improving business portfolio management of Georgia Healthcare
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Retail (Drugs) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Georgia Healthcare
Strengths of Georgia Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Georgia Healthcare are -
Innovation driven organization
– Georgia Healthcare is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Georgia Healthcare 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Drugs) industry
– Georgia Healthcare has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Georgia Healthcare to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Georgia Healthcare to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Georgia Healthcare has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Georgia Healthcare 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Georgia Healthcare in Retail (Drugs) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Drugs) industry
– Georgia Healthcare is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Georgia Healthcare emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Georgia Healthcare in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Georgia Healthcare has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Georgia Healthcare to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Georgia Healthcare
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Georgia Healthcare does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Drugs)
– Georgia Healthcare is one of the leading players in the Retail (Drugs) industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Drugs) industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Georgia Healthcare in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Georgia Healthcare has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Georgia Healthcare to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Georgia Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Georgia Healthcare are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Georgia Healthcare is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Drugs) industry, but Georgia Healthcare needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Georgia Healthcare to focus more on services in the Retail (Drugs) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Georgia Healthcare 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.
High dependence on Georgia Healthcare ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Georgia Healthcare, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Drugs) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Georgia Healthcare has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, Georgia Healthcare needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Georgia Healthcare has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
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 Georgia Healthcare supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Georgia Healthcare is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Georgia Healthcare vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Drugs) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Georgia Healthcare 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Georgia Healthcare is just above the Retail (Drugs) 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Georgia Healthcare 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Georgia Healthcare has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Drugs) industry over the last five years. Georgia Healthcare 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.
Georgia Healthcare Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Georgia Healthcare are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Georgia Healthcare can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Drugs) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Georgia Healthcare can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Georgia Healthcare can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Drugs) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Georgia Healthcare 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Georgia Healthcare 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Georgia Healthcare to increase its market reach. Georgia Healthcare 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Georgia Healthcare can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Drugs) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Georgia Healthcare 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Georgia Healthcare 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Georgia Healthcare in the Retail (Drugs) industry. Now Georgia Healthcare can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Georgia Healthcare has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Drugs) industry. This can help Georgia Healthcare to build a more holistic ecosystem for Georgia Healthcare products in the Retail (Drugs) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Georgia Healthcare 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.
Threats Georgia Healthcare External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Georgia Healthcare are -
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 Georgia Healthcare business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Drugs) industry are lowering. It can presents Georgia Healthcare with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Drugs) sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Georgia Healthcare may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Drugs) sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Georgia Healthcare 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Georgia Healthcare 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Georgia Healthcare 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.
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 Georgia Healthcare.
Increasing wage structure of Georgia Healthcare
– 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 Georgia Healthcare.
Environmental challenges
– Georgia Healthcare 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. Georgia Healthcare can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry.
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. Georgia Healthcare 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Georgia Healthcare is facing in Retail (Drugs) 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Georgia Healthcare Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare 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 Georgia Healthcare needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.