SWOT Analysis Strengths

Weaknesses

Unique product with tangible benefits

Unknown technology

Solves a real world problem

Ease of use?

There are a couple of strengths that will drive the adoption of this product. The first is that it is unique – there are no competitors in Canada at the moment. There is one competitor in the UK at present. The competitive threat can be managed by licensing the technology from that company, with a non-compete clause, or by developing similar but superior technology of our own. Patents can protect any unique attributes of our product.

The second strength is that this product solves a real world problem. Many innovative ideas fail at the application stage so it is important that the product solves a problem better than existing products. In this case, there is no product that can allow a cast to be set on the fly. Using this as a bandage would only replace bandages – a product that works just fine – but the added functionality that this can be set hard enough to be used as a cast means that it is almost a better choice than bandages in a first aid kit, or at the very least a complementary product. That this product represents an improvement over current technology is very much a strength.

The main weakness...

An intensive communications effort will be required to introduce this product to the market, and to convey the value propositions to the clients.
The second weakness is the question of ease of use. A spray can seems easy to use, but a spray can that comes with a variety of different settings ranging from bandage to cast seems more difficult to use. A medical practitioner with ample experience would obviously find it easy, but somebody taking this on a hike and having never used it before might not find the use so straightforward. Thus, it is important to make the product as easy to use as possible, maybe by having pre-made settings on the canister, or by having two distinct products – one for bandages and one for casts.

Opportunities

Threats

Medical device category

Regulatory bodies

Civilian category

Competitors

There are major opportunities for this product, both in the medical devices category, which is regulated, and in the civilian category. Bandages are not regulated medical devices, but this is not necessarily a decision that the company can make on its own. The military is another market that has potential, because of the…