Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid
The case describes a unique insurance scheme called Krupa Arogya Suraksha, promoted by the Shree Krishna Arogya Trust (Trust). The product was designed with the aim of extending basic health coverage to the "base-of-the-pyramid" (BoP) population at an affordable premium. The services were provided by Shree Krishna Hospital, of which the Trust was an associate. The Trust was looking at a win-win situation: in providing modern health services to a larger, lower-income group, the facilities and infrastructure of the hospital would be better utilized. In the five years since its creation, membership in the scheme had increased threefold to 43,000. These members/consumers accounted for 13 per cent of patients treated by the hospital. Thus, the twin objectives of extending affordable healthcare to the lower-income segment and increased utilization of the facilities at the hospital were achieved to some extent. However, the Trust was not able to meet the cost of the health care offered under the scheme from the premiums collected and was dependent on donors to absorb the shortfall. The Trust's management was concerned about the sustainability of such an arrangement and was looking for ways to make the scheme pay for itself.
Swot Analysis of "Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid" written by Suresh B.P., S.R. Asokan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trust Scheme facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Personnel policies, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trust Scheme, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trust Scheme 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trust Scheme
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 Trust Scheme
Strengths Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trust Scheme in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Trust Scheme 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Trust Scheme is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Trust Scheme is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Trust Scheme is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Trust Scheme to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Trust Scheme to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Trust Scheme 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Trust Scheme has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Trust Scheme 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.
Analytics focus
– Trust Scheme 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 Suresh B.P., S.R. Asokan 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Trust Scheme in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Trust Scheme has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Trust Scheme 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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.
Weaknesses Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Trust Scheme is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Trust Scheme is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Trust Scheme needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Trust Scheme to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Trust Scheme is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid, in the dynamic environment Trust Scheme has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Trust Scheme has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Trust Scheme 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Trust Scheme 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Trust Scheme, firm in the HBR case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Trust Scheme has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Trust Scheme 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 - Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Trust Scheme 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. Trust Scheme 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Suresh B.P., S.R. Asokan suggests that, Trust Scheme 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.
Opportunities Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid | 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Trust Scheme 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. Trust Scheme 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Trust Scheme is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trust Scheme to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Trust Scheme can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Trust Scheme 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Trust Scheme to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Trust Scheme 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Trust Scheme 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, Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Trust Scheme 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 Trust Scheme has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Trust Scheme to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid case study. Trust Scheme can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trust Scheme can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Trust Scheme 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, Trust Scheme 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Trust Scheme can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Trust Scheme operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Trust Scheme has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Trust Scheme 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Trust Scheme 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 Trust Scheme
– 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 Trust Scheme.
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. Trust Scheme needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trust Scheme with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Trust Scheme in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Trust Scheme 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. Trust Scheme can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Trust Scheme 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Trust Scheme 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid .
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 Trust Scheme.
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. Trust Scheme 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.
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 Trust Scheme business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Health Insurance to the Base of the Pyramid 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 Trust Scheme needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.