Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (OASM) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption,
geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
Strengths of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB are -
Ability to lead change in
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has one of the best training and development program in 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB in 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 industry
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is one of the leading players in the 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 industry.
High dependence on Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can develop new processes and procedures in 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.
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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to build a more holistic ecosystem for Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Threats Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB are -
Increasing wage structure of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
– 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB in industry. The 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 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 Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
