SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Homology Medicines (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Homology Medicines is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Homology Medicines
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Homology Medicines can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Homology Medicines, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Homology Medicines
2. Improving business portfolio management of Homology Medicines
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Retail (Drugs) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Homology Medicines
Strengths of Homology Medicines | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Homology Medicines are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Homology Medicines has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Homology Medicines staying ahead in the Retail (Drugs) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Homology Medicines has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Homology Medicines 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.
Training and development
– Homology Medicines has one of the best training and development program in Services 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 Homology Medicines in Retail (Drugs) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Homology Medicines 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 Retail (Drugs) industry. The technology infrastructure of United States 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 Retail (Drugs) industry
– Homology Medicines is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Homology Medicines is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Drugs) industry. This has provided Homology Medicines 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Homology Medicines 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.
Learning organization
- Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Homology Medicines emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Drugs)
– Homology Medicines is one of the leading players in the Retail (Drugs) industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Drugs) industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Homology Medicines in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Drugs) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Homology Medicines digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Homology Medicines 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
– Homology Medicines is one of the leading players in the Retail (Drugs) industry in United States. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United States. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses of Homology Medicines | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Homology Medicines are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Drugs) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Homology Medicines 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Homology Medicines 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. Homology Medicines 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, Homology Medicines is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Homology Medicines to provide better information regarding Retail (Drugs) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Homology Medicines 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Homology Medicines, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Drugs) 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.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Drugs) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Drugs) industry, but Homology Medicines needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Homology Medicines to focus more on services in the Retail (Drugs) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Homology Medicines, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Drugs) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Homology Medicines has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Homology Medicines has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Drugs) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Homology Medicines should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Homology Medicines has high operating costs in the Retail (Drugs) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Homology Medicines lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Homology Medicines 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.
Homology Medicines Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Homology Medicines are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Homology Medicines to increase its market reach. Homology Medicines 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Homology Medicines 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
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. Homology Medicines can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Homology Medicines 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Homology Medicines 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Homology Medicines 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Homology Medicines can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Homology Medicines can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Homology Medicines operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Homology Medicines 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Homology Medicines in the Retail (Drugs) industry. Now Homology Medicines can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Homology Medicines is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Homology Medicines can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Drugs) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Homology Medicines can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (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.
Threats Homology Medicines External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Homology Medicines are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Homology Medicines can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Retail (Drugs) industry.
Environmental challenges
– Homology Medicines 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. Homology Medicines can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Homology Medicines is facing in Retail (Drugs) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Drugs) industry are lowering. It can presents Homology Medicines with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Drugs) sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Homology Medicines has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Drugs) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Homology Medicines needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (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.
Increasing wage structure of Homology Medicines
– 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 Homology Medicines.
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 Homology Medicines in the Retail (Drugs) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines prominent markets.
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 Homology Medicines business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Homology Medicines 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 Retail (Drugs) industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Homology Medicines Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines 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 Homology Medicines needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.