Progressive Care (RXMD) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Drugs)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Progressive Care (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Progressive Care is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Progressive Care can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Progressive Care, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Progressive Care
2. Improving business portfolio management of Progressive Care
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 Progressive Care
Strengths of Progressive Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Progressive Care are -
Ability to lead change in Retail (Drugs)
– Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Progressive Care 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.
High brand equity
– Progressive Care has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Progressive Care to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Progressive Care has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Progressive Care 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Progressive Care 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Progressive Care has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Drugs) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Progressive Care have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Progressive Care is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Progressive Care 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Progressive Care in Retail (Drugs) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Progressive Care emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Progressive Care in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Progressive Care has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Progressive Care to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Progressive Care has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Progressive Care 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.
Weaknesses of Progressive Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Progressive Care are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Progressive Care has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Drugs) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Drugs) industry, Progressive Care 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.
High dependence on Progressive Care ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Progressive Care still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Drugs) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Progressive Care has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Progressive Care supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Progressive Care is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Progressive Care vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Progressive Care needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Progressive Care 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Progressive Care 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 Retail (Drugs) industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Drugs) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Progressive Care 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Drugs) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Progressive Care 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Progressive Care 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Progressive Care is just above the Retail (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.
Progressive Care Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Progressive Care are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Progressive Care can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Progressive Care operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Progressive Care can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (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.
Manufacturing automation
– Progressive Care 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Progressive Care is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Progressive Care 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Progressive Care 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Progressive Care has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Drugs) industry. This can help Progressive Care to build a more holistic ecosystem for Progressive Care products in the Retail (Drugs) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Progressive Care 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Progressive Care can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Drugs) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Progressive Care 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. Progressive Care 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Progressive Care has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Drugs) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Progressive Care to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Progressive Care to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Progressive Care to increase its market reach. Progressive Care 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.
Threats Progressive Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Progressive Care are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Progressive Care 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Progressive Care has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Drugs) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Progressive Care 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.
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. Progressive Care needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Drugs) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Drugs) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Progressive Care 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.
Increasing wage structure of Progressive Care
– 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 Progressive Care.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Progressive Care 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Progressive Care may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Drugs) sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Progressive Care 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.
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 Progressive Care 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. Progressive Care 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Progressive Care Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care 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 Progressive Care needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
