Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions,
there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Major Drugs sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
Strengths of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in Major Drugs industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is one of the leading players in the Major 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Major Drugs industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is one of the most innovative firm in Major Drugs sector.
Organizational Resilience of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings staying ahead in the Major Drugs industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Major Drugs
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is one of the leading players in the Major Drugs industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Major Drugs industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Major 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.
High brand equity
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major Drugs industry using digital technology.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Major Drugs industry over the last five years. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is one of the leading players in the Major Drugs industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Major Drugs industry in last five years.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has some of the most successful models in the Major Drugs industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Major Drugs industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major Drugs industry.
Skills based hiring in Major Drugs industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings, in the dynamic environment of Major Drugs industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to provide better information regarding Major Drugs products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Major 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major Drugs industry.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Major Drugs industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Major Drugs industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in the Major Drugs industry. Now Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can develop new processes and procedures in Major Drugs 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Major Drugs industry. This can help Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to build a more holistic ecosystem for Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings products in the Major Drugs industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Major Drugs industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major Drugs industry and other sectors.
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. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Major 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in the Major Drugs sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings
– 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings in Major Drugs industry. The Major 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings is facing in Major Drugs sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Major Drugs industry.
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. Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Major Drugs industry regulations.
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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.