Metlifecare Limited SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

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

The Metlifecare Limited is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Metlifecare Limited 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.

Order Now - Metlifecare Limited SWOT Analysis
Check out- Metlifecare Limited PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

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 known as SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix helps the managers of the Metlifecare Limited to develop four types of strategies:

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

Metlifecare Limited swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

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

Step by Step Guide to Metlifecare Limited SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Metlifecare Limited – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading companies in its industry, Metlifecare Limited 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 Metlifecare Limited are –

Read - Metlifecare Limited 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.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
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.
Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
Strong distribution network – Over the years Metlifecare Limited has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Metlifecare Limited is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Superb Performance in New Markets – Metlifecare Limited 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.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.

Weakness of Metlifecare Limited – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Metlifecare Limited 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.

Article continues after advertisement

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. Metlifecare Limited has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.
The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Metlifecare Limited are below the industry average.
Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Metlifecare Limited is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Metlifecare Limited 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.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Metlifecare Limited 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.
Organization structure is only compatible with present business model thus limiting expansion in adjacent product segments.
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.

Opportunities for Metlifecare Limited – External Strategic Factors

Article continues after advertisement

Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Metlifecare Limited’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.
The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Metlifecare Limited to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Metlifecare Limited . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
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.
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 Metlifecare Limited. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.
Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Metlifecare Limited an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Metlifecare Limited to capture new customers and increase its market share.
The new technology provides an opportunity to Metlifecare Limited 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 Metlifecare Limited Facing - External Strategic Factors

New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
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.
New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
Liability laws in different countries are different and Metlifecare Limited may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Metlifecare Limited’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.
Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Metlifecare Limited profitability.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Metlifecare Limited

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 Metlifecare Limited
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 Metlifecare Limited

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 Metlifecare Limited 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 Metlifecare Limited

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 Metlifecare Limited

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)