Swot Analysis of "Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)"" written by Regina E. Herzlinger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Medcath Corporation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Mergers & acquisitions and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Medcath Corporation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Medcath Corporation 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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Medcath Corporation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Medcath Corporation
Strengths Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Medcath Corporation in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Medcath Corporation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Medcath Corporation 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
– Medcath Corporation 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 Regina E. Herzlinger 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Medcath Corporation 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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Medcath Corporation 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.
Learning organization
- Medcath Corporation 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 Medcath Corporation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Medcath Corporation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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.
Strong track record of project management
– Medcath Corporation is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Medcath Corporation in the sector have low bargaining power. Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Medcath Corporation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Medcath Corporation 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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Medcath Corporation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Medcath Corporation
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Medcath Corporation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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.
Weaknesses Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" are -
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 Medcath Corporation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)", it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Medcath Corporation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Medcath Corporation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Medcath Corporation 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Medcath Corporation, firm in the HBR case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Medcath Corporation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Medcath Corporation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)", it seems that the employees of Medcath Corporation 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Medcath Corporation 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)", in the dynamic environment Medcath Corporation has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Medcath Corporation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Medcath Corporation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Medcath Corporation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Medcath Corporation to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)", it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Medcath Corporation 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.
Opportunities Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Medcath Corporation 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.
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 Medcath Corporation in the consumer business. Now Medcath Corporation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Medcath Corporation 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Medcath Corporation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Medcath Corporation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Medcath Corporation to increase its market reach. Medcath Corporation 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Medcath Corporation 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 Medcath Corporation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Medcath Corporation 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Medcath Corporation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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.
Manufacturing automation
– Medcath Corporation can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Medcath Corporation 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Medcath Corporation 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.
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. Medcath Corporation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Medcath Corporation can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Threats Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" are -
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 Medcath Corporation in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Medcath Corporation 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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)", Medcath Corporation may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Regulatory challenges
– Medcath Corporation 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Medcath Corporation 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. Medcath Corporation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Medcath Corporation 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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (B)" .
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 Medcath Corporation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Medcath Corporation 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Medcath Corporation is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Medcath Corporation 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Medcath Corporation 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Supplement to "MedCath Corporation (A)" and "MedCath Corporation (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 Medcath Corporation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
