Seattle Genetics, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

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SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Seattle Genetics, 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) Seattle Genetics, Inc. is facing in its current business environment.

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

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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 called SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix enables the managers of the Seattle Genetics, Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

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

Seattle Genetics, Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The main purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a company can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Seattle Genetics, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Seattle Genetics, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Seattle Genetics, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Seattle Genetics, Inc. has numerous strengths that help 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 Seattle Genetics, Inc. are –

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Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Seattle Genetics, Inc. products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.
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.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Seattle Genetics, 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.
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.
Superb Performance in New Markets – Seattle Genetics, Inc. has built expertise at entering new markets and making success of them. The expansion has helped the organization to build new revenue stream and diversify the economic cycle risk in the markets it operates in.

Weakness of Seattle Genetics, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

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

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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 Seattle Genetics, Inc. is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Seattle Genetics, 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 company has not being able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. Seattle Genetics, Inc. has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.
Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Seattle Genetics, Inc. is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
Organization structure is only compatible with present business model thus limiting expansion in adjacent product segments.
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.
The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Seattle Genetics, Inc. are below the industry average.

Opportunities for Seattle Genetics, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Seattle Genetics, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Seattle Genetics, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Seattle Genetics, Inc..
New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Seattle Genetics, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Seattle Genetics, Inc. to increase its profitability.
Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Seattle Genetics, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
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.
Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Seattle Genetics, Inc. to capture new customers and increase its market share.

Threats Seattle Genetics, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

Shortage of skilled workforce in certain global market represents a threat to steady growth of profits for Seattle Genetics, Inc. in those markets.
The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards 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 Seattle Genetics, Inc.
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Seattle Genetics, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
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.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Seattle Genetics, 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 Seattle Genetics, 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 Seattle Genetics, 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 Seattle Genetics, 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 Seattle Genetics, 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)