Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionIn the Fall of 2013, Christine Paige, Kaiser Permanente's Senior Vice President of Marketing was preparing for an upcoming executive committee meeting in which she needed to recommend some critical changes to Kaiser's long-running and successful "Thrive"
Swot Analysis of "Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs" written by Kristiana Raube, Lynn Upshaw includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Thrive Kaiser facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Thrive Kaiser, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Thrive Kaiser 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Thrive Kaiser
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Thrive Kaiser
Strengths Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Thrive Kaiser in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Thrive Kaiser 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 Thrive Kaiser in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Thrive Kaiser has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Thrive Kaiser to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Thrive Kaiser 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Thrive Kaiser in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Thrive Kaiser has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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.
Analytics focus
– Thrive Kaiser is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Kristiana Raube, Lynn Upshaw can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Thrive Kaiser 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 Thrive Kaiser is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Thrive Kaiser is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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.
Organizational Resilience of Thrive Kaiser
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Thrive Kaiser does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Thrive Kaiser digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Thrive Kaiser 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Thrive Kaiser has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Thrive Kaiser 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.
Weaknesses Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Thrive Kaiser has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Thrive Kaiser even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs, it seems that the employees of Thrive Kaiser 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.
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 Thrive Kaiser supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Thrive Kaiser vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs HBR case study mentions - Thrive Kaiser 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive Kaiser 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Thrive Kaiser 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Thrive Kaiser has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Thrive Kaiser 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs, in the dynamic environment Thrive Kaiser has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Thrive Kaiser has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Thrive Kaiser is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs | 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs are -
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. Thrive Kaiser can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Thrive Kaiser in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Thrive Kaiser has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Thrive Kaiser to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Thrive Kaiser to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Thrive Kaiser to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Thrive Kaiser 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Thrive Kaiser is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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.
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 Thrive Kaiser 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Thrive Kaiser 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Thrive Kaiser 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, Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Thrive Kaiser can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Thrive Kaiser operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Thrive Kaiser can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Thrive Kaiser in the consumer business. Now Thrive Kaiser can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Thrive Kaiser has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Thrive Kaiser to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs case study. Thrive Kaiser can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Thrive Kaiser 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Thrive Kaiser in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
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 Thrive Kaiser business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Thrive Kaiser needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Thrive Kaiser has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Thrive Kaiser needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Thrive Kaiser 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs .
Regulatory challenges
– Thrive Kaiser 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Thrive Kaiser is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Thrive Kaiser in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Thrive Kaiser.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Thrive Kaiser will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive or Revive? The Kaiser Permanente "Thrive" Marketing Programs 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 Thrive Kaiser needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.