Sellas Life Sciences (SLS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sellas Life Sciences (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sellas Life Sciences is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sellas Life Sciences

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sellas Life Sciences can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sellas Life Sciences, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sellas Life Sciences 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Sellas Life Sciences can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sellas Life Sciences
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sellas Life Sciences
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Biotechnology & Drugs sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sellas Life Sciences

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Strengths of Sellas Life Sciences | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Sellas Life Sciences are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– Sellas Life Sciences has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sellas Life Sciences to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sellas Life Sciences to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Sellas Life Sciences emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High brand equity

– Sellas Life Sciences has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sellas Life Sciences to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Organizational Resilience of Sellas Life Sciences

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sellas Life Sciences does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Biotechnology & Drugs

– Sellas Life Sciences is one of the leading players in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sellas Life Sciences in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Diverse revenue streams

– Sellas Life Sciences is present in almost all the verticals within the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This has provided Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Sellas Life Sciences in Biotechnology & Drugs industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Sellas Life Sciences has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sellas Life Sciences staying ahead in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Sellas Life Sciences in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. Sellas Life Sciences has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sellas Life Sciences to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Sellas Life Sciences is one of the most innovative firm in Biotechnology & Drugs sector.

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Weaknesses of Sellas Life Sciences | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sellas Life Sciences are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sellas Life Sciences has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry over the last five years. Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of United States, Sellas Life Sciences needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Sellas Life Sciences is one of the leading players in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry in last five years.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Sellas Life Sciences, in the dynamic environment of Biotechnology & Drugs industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sellas Life Sciences has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Employees’ less understanding of Sellas Life Sciences strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sellas Life Sciences is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Sellas Life Sciences to provide better information regarding Biotechnology & Drugs products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Sellas Life Sciences 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry.

Need for greater diversity

– Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Skills based hiring in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, but Sellas Life Sciences needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sellas Life Sciences to focus more on services in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

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Sellas Life Sciences Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Sellas Life Sciences are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sellas Life Sciences in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. Now Sellas Life Sciences can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sellas Life Sciences can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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 Sellas Life Sciences 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

– Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Sellas Life Sciences has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This can help Sellas Life Sciences to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sellas Life Sciences products in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sellas Life Sciences to increase its market reach. Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sellas Life Sciences 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Sellas Life Sciences can develop new processes and procedures in Biotechnology & 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sellas Life Sciences can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sellas Life Sciences operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Biotechnology & Drugs sector.

Buying journey improvements

– Sellas Life Sciences can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Biotechnology & Drugs 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sellas Life Sciences in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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Threats Sellas Life Sciences External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Sellas Life Sciences are -

Consumer confidence and its impact on Sellas Life Sciences 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry and other sectors.

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 Sellas Life Sciences business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

Environmental challenges

– Sellas Life Sciences 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. Sellas Life Sciences can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry.

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. Sellas Life Sciences needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Sellas Life Sciences 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.

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 Sellas Life Sciences in the Biotechnology & Drugs sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Regulatory challenges

– Sellas Life Sciences 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry regulations.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Biotechnology & Drugs industry are lowering. It can presents Sellas Life Sciences with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Biotechnology & Drugs sector.

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 Sellas Life Sciences.

Increasing wage structure of Sellas Life Sciences

– 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 Sellas Life Sciences.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences prominent markets.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sellas Life Sciences in Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The Biotechnology & 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sellas Life Sciences Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences 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 Sellas Life Sciences needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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