Case Study Description of Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products
Sunrise's CEO must decide whether to intervene in a decision by a division, Guardian Products, to introduce a new lightweight standard wheelchair. Guardian wants to introduce the wheelchair to complement its line of commodity crutches, walkers, and other patient aids. If introduced, the new wheelchair will compete with an existing product offered by the largest and most profitable Sunrise division, Quickie Designs. The CEO hesitates to take action because he does not want to disrupt a precedent of total divisional autonomy that is integral to Sunrise's culture.
Swot Analysis of "Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products" written by Anita M. McGahan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wheelchair Sunrise's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Corporate governance, Decision making, Marketing, Organizational culture and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wheelchair Sunrise's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wheelchair Sunrise's
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's
Strengths Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wheelchair Sunrise's in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Wheelchair Sunrise's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wheelchair Sunrise's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Wheelchair Sunrise's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wheelchair Sunrise's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Learning organization
- Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Wheelchair Sunrise's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Wheelchair Sunrise's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wheelchair Sunrise's in the sector have low bargaining power. Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wheelchair Sunrise's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anita M. McGahan suggests that, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products HBR case study mentions - Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wheelchair Sunrise's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wheelchair Sunrise's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Wheelchair Sunrise's, firm in the HBR case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, it seems that the employees of Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Wheelchair Sunrise's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Wheelchair Sunrise's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, 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.
Opportunities Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products | 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wheelchair Sunrise's 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
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Wheelchair Sunrise's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Wheelchair Sunrise's 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. Wheelchair Sunrise's 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, Wheelchair Sunrise's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Wheelchair Sunrise's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wheelchair Sunrise's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wheelchair Sunrise's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wheelchair Sunrise's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products case study. Wheelchair Sunrise's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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, Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wheelchair Sunrise's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wheelchair Sunrise's to increase its market reach. Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Threats Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products are -
Increasing wage structure of Wheelchair Sunrise's
– 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wheelchair Sunrise's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wheelchair Sunrise's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wheelchair Sunrise's in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wheelchair Sunrise's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wheelchair Sunrise's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's.
Regulatory challenges
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.