Rhone Ma (RHON) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Rhone Ma (Malaysia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Rhone Ma is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rhone Ma

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Rhone Ma can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rhone Ma, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rhone Ma 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 Rhone Ma can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Rhone Ma
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rhone Ma
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Major Drugs sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Rhone Ma

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Strengths of Rhone Ma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Rhone Ma are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Major Drugs industry

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Rhone Ma has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Major Drugs industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Rhone Ma have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Learning organization

- Rhone Ma 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 Rhone Ma is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Rhone Ma emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Rhone Ma in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. Rhone Ma has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rhone Ma to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Ability to lead change in Major Drugs

– Rhone Ma is one of the leading players in the Major Drugs industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Major Drugs industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Rhone Ma in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Training and development

– Rhone Ma 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Rhone Ma in Major Drugs industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Organizational Resilience of Rhone Ma

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Rhone Ma does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Digital Transformation in Major Drugs industry

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Rhone Ma is one of the leading players in the Major Drugs industry in Malaysia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Malaysia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Analytics focus

– Rhone Ma 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 Major Drugs industry. The technology infrastructure of Malaysia 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Rhone Ma is one of the most innovative firm in Major Drugs sector.

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Weaknesses of Rhone Ma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Rhone Ma are -

High dependence on Rhone Ma ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Rhone Ma still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Major Drugs industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Rhone Ma has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Rhone Ma is one of the leading players in the Major Drugs industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Major Drugs industry in last five years.

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

Skills based hiring in Major Drugs industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rhone Ma 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Rhone Ma is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Major Drugs industry, but Rhone Ma needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rhone Ma to focus more on services in the Major Drugs industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Rhone Ma is just above the Major 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Major Drugs industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, Rhone Ma 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 Major Drugs industry.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Rhone Ma 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 decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rhone Ma has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Major Drugs industry over the last five years. Rhone Ma 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

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

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Major Drugs industry, Rhone Ma needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

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Rhone Ma Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Rhone Ma are -

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Rhone Ma to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Rhone Ma has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Major Drugs sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Rhone Ma to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rhone Ma to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rhone Ma 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Rhone Ma has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Major Drugs industry. This can help Rhone Ma to build a more holistic ecosystem for Rhone Ma products in the Major Drugs industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Rhone Ma 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Rhone Ma 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 Major Drugs industry.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rhone Ma 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 Rhone Ma to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Buying journey improvements

– Rhone Ma can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Major 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Developing new processes and practices

– Rhone Ma can develop new processes and procedures in Major 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rhone Ma to increase its market reach. Rhone Ma 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Rhone Ma can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Major 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.

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. Rhone Ma can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Rhone Ma External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Rhone Ma 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rhone Ma 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 Rhone Ma prominent markets.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Rhone Ma has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Major Drugs industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rhone Ma needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Major Drugs 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Rhone Ma 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 Major Drugs industry and other sectors.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Rhone Ma 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.

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 Rhone Ma in the Major Drugs sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Rhone Ma

– 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 Rhone Ma.

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.

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 Rhone Ma.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Rhone Ma is facing in Major Drugs sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Rhone Ma 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. Rhone Ma can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Major Drugs industry.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Major Drugs industry are lowering. It can presents Rhone Ma with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Major Drugs sector.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Rhone Ma 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 Rhone Ma Template, Example

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

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