Plant Advanced Technologies SA (ALPAT) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Plant Advanced Technologies SA (France)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Plant Advanced Technologies SA is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Plant Advanced Technologies SA

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Plant Advanced Technologies SA can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Plant Advanced Technologies SA, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Plant Advanced Technologies SA
2. Improving business portfolio management of Plant Advanced Technologies SA
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Biotechnology & Drugs sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Plant Advanced Technologies SA

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Strengths of Plant Advanced Technologies SA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Plant Advanced Technologies SA are -

High brand equity

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Plant Advanced Technologies SA to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Digital Transformation in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Plant Advanced Technologies SA digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA is present in almost all the verticals within the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This has provided Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA in Biotechnology & Drugs industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Strong track record of project management in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Training and development

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA has one of the best training and development program in Healthcare 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.

Organizational Resilience of Plant Advanced Technologies SA

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

Analytics focus

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The technology infrastructure of France 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Biotechnology & Drugs industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Plant Advanced Technologies SA have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA is one of the leading players in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry in France. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in France. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

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Weaknesses of Plant Advanced Technologies SA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Plant Advanced Technologies SA are -

Ability to respond to the competition

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

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of France, Plant Advanced Technologies SA needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry using digital technology.

High dependence on Plant Advanced Technologies SA ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Plant Advanced Technologies SA still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Biotechnology & Drugs industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Plant Advanced Technologies SA has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Skills based hiring in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Plant Advanced Technologies SA has some of the most successful models in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Plant Advanced Technologies SA should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Plant Advanced Technologies SA has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Biotechnology & 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.

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Plant Advanced Technologies SA Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Plant Advanced Technologies SA are -

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Plant Advanced Technologies SA to increase its market reach. Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Creating value in data economy

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Manufacturing automation

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Biotechnology & 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.

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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Biotechnology & Drugs industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Plant Advanced Technologies SA can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Loyalty marketing

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. Now Plant Advanced Technologies SA can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Increase in government spending

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

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Threats Plant Advanced Technologies SA External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Plant Advanced Technologies SA are -

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.

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. Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Plant Advanced Technologies SA needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Biotechnology & 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. Plant Advanced Technologies SA needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Biotechnology & Drugs industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Plant Advanced Technologies SA can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Increasing wage structure of Plant Advanced Technologies SA

– 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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Plant Advanced Technologies SA may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Biotechnology & Drugs sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

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 Plant Advanced Technologies SA in the Biotechnology & Drugs sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Plant Advanced Technologies SA 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Plant Advanced Technologies SA Template, Example

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

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