China Pioneer Pharma (1345) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Drugs)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for China Pioneer Pharma (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , China Pioneer Pharma is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of China Pioneer Pharma
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that China Pioneer Pharma can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the China Pioneer Pharma, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of China Pioneer Pharma
2. Improving business portfolio management of China Pioneer Pharma
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Retail (Drugs) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of China Pioneer Pharma
Strengths of China Pioneer Pharma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of China Pioneer Pharma are -
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Drugs) industry
– China Pioneer Pharma is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Drugs) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For China Pioneer Pharma digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– China Pioneer Pharma has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – China Pioneer Pharma staying ahead in the Retail (Drugs) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of China Pioneer Pharma in Retail (Drugs) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– China Pioneer Pharma 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 Retail (Drugs) 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.
Learning organization
- China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at China Pioneer Pharma emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of China Pioneer Pharma in the Services sector have low bargaining power. China Pioneer Pharma has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps China Pioneer Pharma to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– China Pioneer Pharma is one of the leading players in the Retail (Drugs) industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– China Pioneer Pharma is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Drugs) industry
– China Pioneer Pharma has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled China Pioneer Pharma to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped China Pioneer Pharma to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Weaknesses of China Pioneer Pharma | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of China Pioneer Pharma are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of China Pioneer Pharma is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Drugs) industry, but China Pioneer Pharma needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help China Pioneer Pharma to focus more on services in the Retail (Drugs) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at China Pioneer Pharma, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Drugs) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. China Pioneer Pharma has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, China Pioneer Pharma 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 Retail (Drugs) industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Drugs) industry, China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, China Pioneer Pharma needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, China Pioneer Pharma is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help China Pioneer Pharma to provide better information regarding Retail (Drugs) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on China Pioneer Pharma ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of China Pioneer Pharma still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Drugs) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though China Pioneer Pharma has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, China Pioneer Pharma has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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 China Pioneer Pharma supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, China Pioneer Pharma is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left China Pioneer Pharma vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of China Pioneer Pharma products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, China Pioneer Pharma needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, China Pioneer Pharma has high operating costs in the Retail (Drugs) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract China Pioneer Pharma lucrative customers.
China Pioneer Pharma Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of China Pioneer Pharma are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects China Pioneer Pharma can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, China Pioneer Pharma can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that China Pioneer Pharma operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Drugs) sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– China Pioneer Pharma has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Drugs) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled China Pioneer Pharma to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help China Pioneer Pharma to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– China Pioneer Pharma can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Loyalty marketing
– China Pioneer Pharma 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.
Manufacturing automation
– China Pioneer Pharma can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (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 China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for China Pioneer Pharma 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, China Pioneer Pharma is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. China Pioneer Pharma can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Drugs) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of China Pioneer Pharma has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Drugs) industry. This can help China Pioneer Pharma to build a more holistic ecosystem for China Pioneer Pharma products in the Retail (Drugs) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats China Pioneer Pharma External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of China Pioneer Pharma are -
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 China Pioneer Pharma.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Drugs) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. China Pioneer Pharma can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– China Pioneer Pharma 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. China Pioneer Pharma can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Drugs) industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– China Pioneer Pharma has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Drugs) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, China Pioneer Pharma needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– China Pioneer Pharma 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 Retail (Drugs) industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of China Pioneer Pharma
– 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 China Pioneer Pharma.
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. China Pioneer Pharma needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Drugs) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 China Pioneer Pharma in the Retail (Drugs) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, China Pioneer Pharma may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Drugs) sector.
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 China Pioneer Pharma business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of China Pioneer Pharma Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma 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 China Pioneer Pharma needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
