Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

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

The Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is one of the leading firms in its industry. Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. maintains its prominent position in market by critically analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis a highly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the company such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

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The SWOT Analysis framework helps 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 called SWOT Matrix.

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

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

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The primary purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a firm can use to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading firms in its industry, Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. are –

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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.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Strong dealer community – It has built a culture among distributor & dealers where the dealers not only promote company’s products but also invest in training the sales team to explain to the customer how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of the products.
Strong Free Cash Flow – Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.

Weakness of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a firm can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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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.
High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
There are gaps in the product range sold by the company. This lack of choice can give a new competitor a foothold in the market.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. are below the industry average.
The marketing of the products left a lot to be desired. Even though the product is a success in terms of sale but its positioning and unique selling proposition is not clearly defined which can lead to the attacks in this segment from the competitors.
Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is spending above the industry average on Research and Development, it has not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry in terms of innovation. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward to bring out products based on tested features in the market.

Opportunities for Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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.
Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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 trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
New environmental policies – The new opportunities will create a level playing field for all the players in the industry. It represent a great opportunity for Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
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.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to increase its profitability.

Threats Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
Liability laws in different countries are different and Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those 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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. profitability.
New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
Intense competition – Stable profitability has increased the number of players in the industry over last two years which has put downward pressure on not only profitability but also on overall sales.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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 Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, 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.

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Example of Weighted SWOT Analysis

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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)