SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for M1 Kliniken (Germany)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , M1 Kliniken is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that M1 Kliniken can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the M1 Kliniken, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which M1 Kliniken 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 M1 Kliniken can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of M1 Kliniken
2. Improving business portfolio management of M1 Kliniken
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Germany
4. Making a Healthcare Facilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of M1 Kliniken
Strengths of M1 Kliniken | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of M1 Kliniken are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of M1 Kliniken in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. M1 Kliniken has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps M1 Kliniken to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the M1 Kliniken 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Healthcare Facilities industry
– M1 Kliniken is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of M1 Kliniken
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing M1 Kliniken does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Healthcare Facilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For M1 Kliniken digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. M1 Kliniken 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that M1 Kliniken 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of M1 Kliniken in Healthcare Facilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– M1 Kliniken has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Healthcare Facilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of M1 Kliniken have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– M1 Kliniken is one of the most innovative firm in Healthcare Facilities sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Healthcare Facilities industry
– M1 Kliniken has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled M1 Kliniken to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped M1 Kliniken to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– M1 Kliniken has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – M1 Kliniken staying ahead in the Healthcare Facilities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– M1 Kliniken is present in almost all the verticals within the Healthcare Facilities industry. This has provided M1 Kliniken 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.
Weaknesses of M1 Kliniken | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of M1 Kliniken are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that M1 Kliniken needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Healthcare Facilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at M1 Kliniken can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as M1 Kliniken is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ less understanding of M1 Kliniken strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of M1 Kliniken 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.
Skills based hiring in Healthcare Facilities industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Germany, M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Germany, M1 Kliniken needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
M1 Kliniken has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Healthcare Facilities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of M1 Kliniken is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Healthcare Facilities industry, but M1 Kliniken needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help M1 Kliniken to focus more on services in the Healthcare Facilities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of M1 Kliniken products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, M1 Kliniken needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 M1 Kliniken supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, M1 Kliniken is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left M1 Kliniken vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of M1 Kliniken, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Healthcare Facilities industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
M1 Kliniken Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of M1 Kliniken are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for M1 Kliniken 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of M1 Kliniken has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Healthcare Facilities industry. This can help M1 Kliniken to build a more holistic ecosystem for M1 Kliniken products in the Healthcare Facilities 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, M1 Kliniken is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. M1 Kliniken can utilize new technology in the field of Healthcare Facilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– M1 Kliniken has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Healthcare Facilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled M1 Kliniken to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help M1 Kliniken to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Healthcare Facilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. M1 Kliniken 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. M1 Kliniken 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for M1 Kliniken in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Healthcare Facilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– M1 Kliniken can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Healthcare Facilities 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– M1 Kliniken can develop new processes and procedures in Healthcare Facilities 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.
Loyalty marketing
– M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for M1 Kliniken in the Healthcare Facilities industry. Now M1 Kliniken can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help M1 Kliniken to increase its market reach. M1 Kliniken 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.
Buying journey improvements
– M1 Kliniken can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Healthcare Facilities 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.
Threats M1 Kliniken External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of M1 Kliniken are -
Increasing wage structure of M1 Kliniken
– 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 M1 Kliniken.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Healthcare Facilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. M1 Kliniken can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Healthcare Facilities industry are lowering. It can presents M1 Kliniken with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Healthcare Facilities 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 M1 Kliniken.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, M1 Kliniken may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Healthcare Facilities sector.
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. M1 Kliniken needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Healthcare Facilities industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– M1 Kliniken has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Healthcare Facilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, M1 Kliniken needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Healthcare Facilities 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for M1 Kliniken in Healthcare Facilities industry. The Healthcare Facilities 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– M1 Kliniken 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Environmental challenges
– M1 Kliniken 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. M1 Kliniken can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– M1 Kliniken 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.
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 M1 Kliniken business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of M1 Kliniken Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at M1 Kliniken 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 M1 Kliniken 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 M1 Kliniken 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 M1 Kliniken 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 M1 Kliniken needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.