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AstraZeneca (AZN) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for AstraZeneca (Germany)


Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AstraZeneca is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AstraZeneca


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




Strengths of AstraZeneca | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of AstraZeneca are -

Learning organization

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

Ability to lead change in Biotechnology & Drugs

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of AstraZeneca comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Biotechnology & Drugs 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Ability to recruit top talent

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the AstraZeneca 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.

Analytics focus

– AstraZeneca 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 Germany is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

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

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that AstraZeneca 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.

Diverse revenue streams

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

Successful track record of launching new products

– AstraZeneca has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. AstraZeneca 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 AstraZeneca | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of AstraZeneca are -

Lack of clear differentiation of AstraZeneca products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, AstraZeneca needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Ability to respond to the competition

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

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As AstraZeneca 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Germany, AstraZeneca needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

AstraZeneca 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Germany, AstraZeneca 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.

Skills based hiring in Biotechnology & Drugs industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at AstraZeneca 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, AstraZeneca has high operating costs in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract AstraZeneca lucrative customers.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that AstraZeneca needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at AstraZeneca can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as AstraZeneca is planning to shift buying processes online.

Employees’ less understanding of AstraZeneca strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of AstraZeneca 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, AstraZeneca is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help AstraZeneca to provide better information regarding Biotechnology & Drugs products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.




AstraZeneca Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities of AstraZeneca are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– AstraZeneca has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Biotechnology & Drugs sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled AstraZeneca to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help AstraZeneca to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. AstraZeneca can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help AstraZeneca 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at AstraZeneca 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 Biotechnology & Drugs industry.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for AstraZeneca 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.

Increase in government spending

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

Manufacturing automation

– AstraZeneca 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.

Buying journey improvements

– AstraZeneca 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 AstraZeneca can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Creating value in data economy

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

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, AstraZeneca is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. AstraZeneca can utilize new technology in the field of Biotechnology & Drugs industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Loyalty marketing

– AstraZeneca 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.




Threats AstraZeneca External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats of AstraZeneca are -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AstraZeneca 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 AstraZeneca prominent markets.

Consumer confidence and its impact on AstraZeneca 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– AstraZeneca 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for AstraZeneca 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.

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 AstraZeneca.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– AstraZeneca 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.

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.

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 AstraZeneca business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– AstraZeneca has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, AstraZeneca 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.

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. AstraZeneca 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.

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. AstraZeneca can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

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 AstraZeneca in the Biotechnology & Drugs sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of AstraZeneca Template, Example


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



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