C-Mer Eye Care (3309) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Healthcare Facilities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for C-Mer Eye Care (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , C-Mer Eye Care is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that C-Mer Eye Care can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the C-Mer Eye Care, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which C-Mer Eye Care operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of C-Mer Eye Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of C-Mer Eye Care
2. Improving business portfolio management of C-Mer Eye Care
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Healthcare Facilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of C-Mer Eye Care
Strengths of C-Mer Eye Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of C-Mer Eye Care are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Training and development
– C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Innovation driven organization
– C-Mer Eye Care is one of the most innovative firm in Healthcare Facilities sector.
High brand equity
– C-Mer Eye Care has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled C-Mer Eye Care to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Healthcare Facilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For C-Mer Eye Care digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of C-Mer Eye Care comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Healthcare Facilities 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Healthcare Facilities industry
– C-Mer Eye Care is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– C-Mer Eye Care is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The technology infrastructure of Hong Kong 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
– C-Mer Eye Care 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 C-Mer Eye Care have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of C-Mer Eye Care
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing C-Mer Eye Care does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of C-Mer Eye Care in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. C-Mer Eye Care has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps C-Mer Eye Care to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– C-Mer Eye Care is present in almost all the verticals within the Healthcare Facilities industry. This has provided C-Mer Eye Care 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 C-Mer Eye Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of C-Mer Eye Care are -
Need for greater diversity
– C-Mer Eye Care has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of C-Mer Eye Care, 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.
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 C-Mer Eye Care supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, C-Mer Eye Care is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left C-Mer Eye Care vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of C-Mer Eye Care strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of C-Mer Eye Care is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Healthcare Facilities industry, but C-Mer Eye Care needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help C-Mer Eye Care to focus more on services in the Healthcare Facilities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, C-Mer Eye Care has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Healthcare Facilities industry over the last five years. C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at C-Mer Eye Care, in the dynamic environment of Healthcare Facilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. C-Mer Eye Care has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though C-Mer Eye Care has some of the most successful models in the Healthcare Facilities industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. C-Mer Eye Care should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
C-Mer Eye Care 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, C-Mer Eye Care has high operating costs in the Healthcare Facilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract C-Mer Eye Care lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that C-Mer Eye Care 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 C-Mer Eye Care can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as C-Mer Eye Care is planning to shift buying processes online.
C-Mer Eye Care Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of C-Mer Eye Care are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of C-Mer Eye Care has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Healthcare Facilities industry. This can help C-Mer Eye Care to build a more holistic ecosystem for C-Mer Eye Care products in the Healthcare Facilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Buying journey improvements
– C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, C-Mer Eye Care is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, C-Mer Eye Care can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Manufacturing automation
– C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– C-Mer Eye Care 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 C-Mer Eye Care to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help C-Mer Eye Care to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Healthcare Facilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. C-Mer Eye Care can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help C-Mer Eye Care to increase its market reach. C-Mer Eye Care will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, C-Mer Eye Care can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that C-Mer Eye Care operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Healthcare Facilities sector.
Threats C-Mer Eye Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of C-Mer Eye Care are -
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. C-Mer Eye Care will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– C-Mer Eye Care 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
– C-Mer Eye Care can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Healthcare Facilities industry.
Increasing wage structure of C-Mer Eye Care
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of C-Mer Eye Care.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Healthcare Facilities industry are lowering. It can presents C-Mer Eye Care with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Healthcare Facilities sector.
Regulatory challenges
– C-Mer Eye Care needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Healthcare Facilities industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, C-Mer Eye Care can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate C-Mer Eye Care prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– C-Mer Eye Care 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. C-Mer Eye Care can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry.
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 C-Mer Eye Care.
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. C-Mer Eye Care 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
– C-Mer Eye Care has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Healthcare Facilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, C-Mer Eye Care 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that C-Mer Eye Care is facing in Healthcare Facilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. C-Mer Eye Care can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of C-Mer Eye Care Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at C-Mer Eye Care needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of C-Mer Eye Care is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of C-Mer Eye Care is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of C-Mer Eye Care to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that C-Mer Eye Care needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.