HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B)
A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. This case provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the initial failures of implementation.
Authors :: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Paras D. Bhayani
Swot Analysis of "HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B)" written by Leonard A. Schlesinger, Paras D. Bhayani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Utilized Care.gov facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Internet, IT, Regulation, Strategy execution and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Utilized Care.gov, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Utilized Care.gov 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Utilized Care.gov
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 Utilized Care.gov
Strengths HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Utilized Care.gov in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Utilized Care.gov 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.
Organizational Resilience of Utilized Care.gov
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Utilized Care.gov does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Utilized Care.gov has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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.
Learning organization
- Utilized Care.gov 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 Utilized Care.gov is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Utilized Care.gov 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Utilized Care.gov is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Utilized Care.gov digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Utilized Care.gov has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Utilized Care.gov has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Utilized Care.gov in the sector have low bargaining power. HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Utilized Care.gov to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Utilized Care.gov is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Utilized Care.gov has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Utilized Care.gov 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Utilized Care.gov products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Utilized Care.gov needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Utilized Care.gov 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) HBR case study mentions - Utilized Care.gov takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 Utilized Care.gov 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B), is just above the industry average. Utilized Care.gov 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Utilized Care.gov, firm in the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Utilized Care.gov 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Utilized Care.gov is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Utilized Care.gov needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Utilized Care.gov to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B), it seems that the employees of Utilized Care.gov don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) | 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) are -
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Utilized Care.gov to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Utilized Care.gov 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Utilized Care.gov in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Utilized Care.gov 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Utilized Care.gov can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Utilized Care.gov 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Utilized Care.gov can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Utilized Care.gov operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Utilized Care.gov 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Utilized Care.gov has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Utilized Care.gov to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) case study. Utilized Care.gov can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Utilized Care.gov 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Utilized Care.gov to increase its market reach. Utilized Care.gov will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Utilized Care.gov is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Utilized Care.gov 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Utilized Care.gov 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Utilized Care.gov 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.
Increasing wage structure of Utilized Care.gov
– 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 Utilized Care.gov.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B), Utilized Care.gov 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Utilized Care.gov needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Utilized Care.gov can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Utilized Care.gov business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Utilized Care.gov can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Utilized Care.gov in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Utilized Care.gov can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Utilized Care.gov 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Utilized Care.gov with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Utilized Care.gov needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B) 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 Utilized Care.gov needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.