SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for QT Vascular Ltd (Singapore)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , QT Vascular Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that QT Vascular Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the QT Vascular Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of QT Vascular Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of QT Vascular Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Medical Equipment & Supplies sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of QT Vascular Ltd
Strengths of QT Vascular Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of QT Vascular Ltd are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of QT Vascular Ltd in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. QT Vascular Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps QT Vascular Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– QT Vascular Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of QT Vascular Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– QT Vascular Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. This has provided QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry
– QT Vascular Ltd 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
– QT Vascular Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Medical Equipment & Supplies sector.
High brand equity
– QT Vascular Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled QT Vascular Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that QT Vascular Ltd 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 Medical Equipment & Supplies industry
– QT Vascular Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled QT Vascular Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The sustainable margins have also helped QT Vascular Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Medical Equipment & Supplies
– QT Vascular Ltd is one of the leading players in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry in Singapore. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry in Singapore but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled QT Vascular Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– QT Vascular Ltd 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 Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The technology infrastructure of Singapore 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of QT Vascular Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Medical Equipment & Supplies 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.
Organizational Resilience of QT Vascular Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing QT Vascular Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of QT Vascular Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of QT Vascular Ltd are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that QT Vascular Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at QT Vascular Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as QT Vascular Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though QT Vascular Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. QT Vascular Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of QT Vascular Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of QT Vascular Ltd don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on QT Vascular Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of QT Vascular Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Medical Equipment & Supplies industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though QT Vascular Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, QT Vascular Ltd has high operating costs in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract QT Vascular Ltd lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
QT Vascular Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, QT Vascular Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help QT Vascular Ltd to provide better information regarding Medical Equipment & Supplies products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As QT Vascular Ltd is one of the leading players in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of QT Vascular Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, QT Vascular Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left QT Vascular Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of QT Vascular Ltd is just above the Medical Equipment & Supplies 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.
QT Vascular Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of QT Vascular Ltd are -
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. QT Vascular Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Medical Equipment & Supplies industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. QT Vascular Ltd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of QT Vascular Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. This can help QT Vascular Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for QT Vascular Ltd products in the Medical Equipment & Supplies 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 QT Vascular Ltd to increase its market reach. QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. QT Vascular Ltd can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. QT Vascular Ltd can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Manufacturing automation
– QT Vascular Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Medical Equipment & Supplies 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
– QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, QT Vascular Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that QT Vascular Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Medical Equipment & Supplies sector.
Threats QT Vascular Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of QT Vascular Ltd are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– QT Vascular Ltd 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.
Increasing wage structure of QT Vascular Ltd
– 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 QT Vascular Ltd.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Medical Equipment & Supplies industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. QT Vascular Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– QT Vascular Ltd 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 Medical Equipment & Supplies industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for QT Vascular Ltd in Medical Equipment & Supplies industry. The Medical Equipment & Supplies 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.
Environmental challenges
– QT Vascular Ltd 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. QT Vascular Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Medical Equipment & Supplies industry.
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 QT Vascular Ltd in the Medical Equipment & Supplies sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that QT Vascular Ltd is facing in Medical Equipment & Supplies sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, QT Vascular Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Medical Equipment & Supplies sector.
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 QT Vascular Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on QT Vascular Ltd 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 Medical Equipment & Supplies industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of QT Vascular Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd 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 QT Vascular Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
