SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Gilead Sciences DRC (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Gilead Sciences DRC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gilead Sciences DRC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Gilead Sciences DRC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gilead Sciences DRC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Gilead Sciences DRC
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gilead Sciences DRC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a NA sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Gilead Sciences DRC
Strengths of Gilead Sciences DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gilead Sciences DRC are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Gilead Sciences DRC comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the NA 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gilead Sciences DRC is one of the most innovative firm in NA sector.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gilead Sciences DRC in the NA sector have low bargaining power. Gilead Sciences DRC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gilead Sciences DRC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gilead Sciences DRC is one of the leading players in the NA industry in Brazil. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Brazil. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Gilead Sciences DRC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gilead Sciences DRC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gilead Sciences DRC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gilead Sciences DRC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive NA industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Gilead Sciences DRC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Gilead Sciences DRC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in NA
– Gilead Sciences DRC is one of the leading players in the NA industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the NA industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Gilead Sciences DRC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Gilead Sciences DRC has one of the best training and development program in NA 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in NA industry
– Gilead Sciences DRC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gilead Sciences DRC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the NA industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gilead Sciences DRC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gilead Sciences DRC in NA industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Gilead Sciences DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gilead Sciences DRC are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Gilead Sciences DRC has high operating costs in the NA industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Gilead Sciences DRC lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Gilead Sciences DRC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the NA industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Gilead Sciences DRC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gilead Sciences DRC is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Gilead Sciences DRC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Gilead Sciences DRC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gilead Sciences DRC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Gilead Sciences DRC, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact NA 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gilead Sciences DRC 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 NA industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Brazil, Gilead Sciences DRC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gilead Sciences DRC has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the NA industry over the last five years. Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Gilead Sciences DRC is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the NA industry, but Gilead Sciences DRC needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gilead Sciences DRC to focus more on services in the NA industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring in NA industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Gilead Sciences DRC, in the dynamic environment of NA industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gilead Sciences DRC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Gilead Sciences DRC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Gilead Sciences DRC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in NA industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Gilead Sciences DRC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Gilead Sciences DRC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Gilead Sciences DRC are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gilead Sciences DRC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the NA 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 Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Gilead Sciences DRC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gilead Sciences DRC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gilead Sciences DRC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gilead Sciences DRC can utilize new technology in the field of NA industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Gilead Sciences DRC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the NA 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the NA industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Gilead Sciences DRC 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. Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
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 Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gilead Sciences DRC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gilead Sciences DRC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in NA sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gilead Sciences DRC to increase its market reach. Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in NA industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Gilead Sciences DRC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Gilead Sciences DRC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Gilead Sciences DRC are -
Regulatory challenges
– Gilead Sciences DRC 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 NA industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Gilead Sciences DRC
– 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 Gilead Sciences DRC.
Environmental challenges
– Gilead Sciences DRC 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. Gilead Sciences DRC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the NA industry.
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 Gilead Sciences DRC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Gilead Sciences DRC 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gilead Sciences DRC in NA industry. The NA 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.
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. Gilead Sciences DRC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the NA industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC prominent markets.
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 Gilead Sciences DRC.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Gilead Sciences DRC may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of NA sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gilead Sciences DRC 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 NA industry and other sectors.
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 Gilead Sciences DRC in the NA sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gilead Sciences DRC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC 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 Gilead Sciences DRC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.