The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?
Healthcare, the largest industry in the United States, is in crisis, and threatens to bankrupt the nation's economy. Medical errors kill an estimated 98,000 people per year, and accessibility to adequate healthcare is an increasing problem for much of the country's citizenry. Despite being one of the most important keys to resolving this crisis, a national electronic healthcare network (eHealth) is under-appreciated and under-exploited, and faces several formidable barriers to implementation. Current and prospective national political leadership has focused narrowly on a subset of issues, in the belief that the crisis cannot be addressed holistically due to political interests. Yet the barriers that greatly impede eHealth's potential to help solve the crisis can only be removed in a timely manner by a comprehensive, national framework that reshapes the legal, operational, and economic landscape for eHealth. Only a greater public awareness that encourages national legislative action can enhance eHealth's potential to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare while reducing its cost.a??a??a??a??a??
Swot Analysis of "The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?" written by John W. Hill, Phillip Powell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ehealth Healthcare facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Networking, Personnel policies and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ehealth Healthcare, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ehealth Healthcare operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ehealth Healthcare
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ehealth Healthcare
Strengths The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ehealth Healthcare in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Ehealth Healthcare is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ehealth Healthcare has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ehealth Healthcare has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ehealth Healthcare are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ehealth Healthcare has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ehealth Healthcare is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Learning organization
- Ehealth Healthcare is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Ehealth Healthcare is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Ehealth Healthcare is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Ehealth Healthcare in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ehealth Healthcare in the sector have low bargaining power. The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ehealth Healthcare to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Ehealth Healthcare has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ehealth Healthcare to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Ehealth Healthcare
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ehealth Healthcare does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Ehealth Healthcare has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Ehealth Healthcare 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John W. Hill, Phillip Powell suggests that, Ehealth Healthcare is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ehealth Healthcare needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?, is just above the industry average. Ehealth Healthcare needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ehealth Healthcare has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ehealth Healthcare has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ehealth Healthcare products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ehealth Healthcare needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Ehealth Healthcare supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ehealth Healthcare vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ehealth Healthcare is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Ehealth Healthcare needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ehealth Healthcare to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Ehealth Healthcare has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ehealth Healthcare is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ehealth Healthcare has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ehealth Healthcare to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? case study. Ehealth Healthcare can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ehealth Healthcare can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ehealth Healthcare can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ehealth Healthcare can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ehealth Healthcare can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Ehealth Healthcare can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ehealth Healthcare can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Ehealth Healthcare can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ehealth Healthcare can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ehealth Healthcare can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ehealth Healthcare can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Ehealth Healthcare can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ehealth Healthcare can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ehealth Healthcare operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Ehealth Healthcare has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Ehealth Healthcare needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ehealth Healthcare has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ehealth Healthcare needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ehealth Healthcare can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ehealth Healthcare in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ehealth Healthcare can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ehealth Healthcare with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution?, Ehealth Healthcare may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ehealth Healthcare high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Ehealth Healthcare
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Ehealth Healthcare.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ehealth Healthcare demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Regulatory challenges
– Ehealth Healthcare needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ehealth Healthcare is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of The National Healthcare Crisis: Is eHealth a Key Solution? is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Ehealth Healthcare needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
