Table 1: TOWS analysis.
The primary criterion for the selection of specific problems is their potential to affect the company in the long term. The reliance on licensees and the economic downturn due to COVID-19 do not necessarily qualify. The effects of the former are challenging to quantify in phrases such as lost sales due to the lack of a reference frame. The latter has been mitigated in GEA’s case because China, its most important market, recovered faster than the rest of the world (GEA spray dry absorption, n.d.). As such, the issues that will be considered are GEA’s lack of diversification and market saturation, as well as its reliance on coal plants that are being replaced by other energy sources. Both of these problems can lead the company’s sales to decline dramatically as it loses customers.
If GEA is going to address these problems, it will most likely need to do so alone, leveraging the technological advantages it has. Its products already have an application in iron and steel manufacturing (Company analysis-ISP, n.d.). It may be possible to adapt them for other industries that have to deal with airborne pollution, which is a concern for many fields that work with chemicals. If GEA can develop a solution that retains the company’s characteristic reliability but is adapted to the needs of a different sector, it can successfully diversify and secure another market for itself. Moreover, this approach is consistent with the company’s vision, as GEA already works with the chemical, coffee, and dairy industries (Company analysis-ISP, n.d.). Further expansion into more promising markets using established technologies is both possible and desirable as a solution to the problem.
References
Company analysis-ISP. (n.d.).
GEA spray dry absorption industry analysis. (n.d.).