Novelion Therapeutics Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be used by Novelion Therapeutics Inc. managers to do a situational analysis of the organization . It is a handy technique to understand the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is facing in its current business environment.

The Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Novelion Therapeutics Inc. maintains its prominent position in market by carefully analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis an immensenly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the company such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

Order Now - Novelion Therapeutics Inc. SWOT Analysis
Check out- Novelion Therapeutics Inc. PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

The SWOT Analysis framework enables an organization to identify the internal strategic factors such as -strengths and weaknesses, & external strategic factors such as - opportunities and threats. It leads to a 2X2 matrix – also known as SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix helps the managers of the Novelion Therapeutics Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies
WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies
ST (strengths-threats) Strategies
WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies

Novelion Therapeutics Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The central purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that an organization can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Novelion Therapeutics Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Novelion Therapeutics Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Novelion Therapeutics Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading companies in its industry, Novelion Therapeutics Inc. has numerous strengths that enable it to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Based on Fern Fort University extensive research – some of the strengths of Novelion Therapeutics Inc. are –

Read - Novelion Therapeutics Inc. Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms through mergers & acquisition. It has successfully integrated number of technology companies in the past few years to streamline its operations and to build a reliable supply chain.
High level of customer satisfaction – the company with its dedicated customer relationship management department has able to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction among present customers and good brand equity among the potential customers.
Strong distribution network – Over the years Novelion Therapeutics Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Novelion Therapeutics Inc. products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is investing huge resources in training and development of its employees resulting in a workforce that is not only highly skilled but also motivated to achieve more.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.

Weakness of Novelion Therapeutics Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Novelion Therapeutics Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where an organization can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

Article continues after advertisement

Days inventory is high compare to the competitors – making the company raise more capital to invest in the channel. This can impact the long term growth of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.
High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Novelion Therapeutics Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
Financial planning is not done properly and efficiently. The current asset ratio and liquid asset ratios suggest that the company can use the cash more efficiently than what it is doing at present.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
Not very good at product demand forecasting leading to higher rate of missed opportunities compare to its competitors. One of the reason why the days inventory is high compare to its competitors is that Novelion Therapeutics Inc. is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Novelion Therapeutics Inc. needs to put more money in technology to integrate the processes across the board. Right now the investment in technologies is not at par with the vision of the company.

Opportunities for Novelion Therapeutics Inc. – External Strategic Factors

Article continues after advertisement

Organization’s core competencies can be a success in similar other products field. A comparative example could be - GE healthcare research helped it in developing better Oil drilling machines.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Novelion Therapeutics Inc..
Stable free cash flow provides opportunities to invest in adjacent product segments. With more cash in bank the company can invest in new technologies as well as in new products segments. This should open a window of opportunity for Novelion Therapeutics Inc. in other product categories.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Novelion Therapeutics Inc. to increase its profitability.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Novelion Therapeutics Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.’s products thus providing an opportunity to the company - either to boost its profitability or pass on the benefits to the customers to gain market share.
New customers from online channel – Over the past few years the company has invested vast sum of money into the online platform. This investment has opened new sales channel for Novelion Therapeutics Inc.. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.
The new technology provides an opportunity to Novelion Therapeutics Inc. to practices differentiated pricing strategy in the new market. It will enable the firm to maintain its loyal customers with great service and lure new customers through other value oriented propositions.

Threats Novelion Therapeutics Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Novelion Therapeutics Inc. profitability.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Novelion Therapeutics Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.
The demand of the highly profitable products is seasonal in nature and any unlikely event during the peak season may impact the profitability of the company in short to medium term.
New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Novelion Therapeutics Inc.

Although the SWOT analysis is widely used as a strategic planning tool, the analysis does have its share of limitations.

Certain capabilities or factors of an organization can be both a strength and weakness at the same time. This is one of the major limitations of SWOT analysis . For example changing environmental regulations can be both a threat to company it can also be an opportunity in a sense that it will enable the company to be on a level playing field or at advantage to competitors if it able to develop the products faster than the competitors.
SWOT does not show how to achieve a competitive advantage, so it must not be an end in itself.
The matrix is only a starting point for a discussion on how proposed strategies could be implemented. It provided an evaluation window but not an implementation plan based on strategic competitiveness of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.
SWOT is a static assessment - analysis of status quo with few prospective changes. As circumstances, capabilities, threats, and strategies change, the dynamics of a competitive environment may not be revealed in a single matrix.
SWOT analysis may lead the firm to overemphasize a single internal or external factor in formulating strategies. There are interrelationships among the key internal and external factors that SWOT does not reveal that may be important in devising strategies.

Article continues after advertisement

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.

In light of the above mentioned limitations of the SWOT analysis / matrix, corporate managers decided to provide weightage to each internal strength and weakness of the firm. Organizations also assess the likelihood of events taking place in the coming future and how strong their impact could be on company's performance.

This method is called Weighted SWOT analysis. It is better than doing simplistic SWOT analysis because with Weighted SWOT Analysis Novelion Therapeutics Inc. managers can focus on the most critical factors and discount the non-important one. It also solves the long list problem where organizations ends up making a long list but none of the factors deemed too critical.

Limitation of Weighted SWOT analysis of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.

This approach also suffers from one major drawback - it focus on individual importance of factor rather than how they are collectively important and impact the business holistically.

Buy Custom Essay and Term Paper on SWOT Analysis / Matrix , Weighted SWOT Analysis of Novelion Therapeutics Inc.

Example of Weighted SWOT Analysis

You can email us to get an example document of Weighted SWOT analysis.

SWOT Worksheet & Template

If you like to do your own SWOT analysis or want to make your own Weighted SWOT SWOT matrix then feel free to download Fern Fort University SWOT Analysis Template.

References / Citations & Bibliography

M. E. Porter, Competitive Strategy(New York: Free Press, 1980)
A. D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962)
O. E. Williamson, Markets and Hierarchies(New York: Free Press, 1975);
L. Wrigley, Divisional Autonomy and Diversification (PhD, Harvard Business School, 1970)
R. E. White, Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context and Performance: An Empirical Investigation, Strategic Management Journal7 (1986)