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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, 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 -
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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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 Wheelchair Sunrise's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wheelchair Sunrise's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wheelchair Sunrise's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Wheelchair Sunrise's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wheelchair Sunrise's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wheelchair Sunrise's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wheelchair Sunrise's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wheelchair Sunrise's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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 -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products, in the dynamic environment Wheelchair Sunrise's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wheelchair Sunrise's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products 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 Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wheelchair Sunrise's is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wheelchair Sunrise's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wheelchair Sunrise's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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. Wheelchair Sunrise's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 Wheelchair Sunrise's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 .
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.
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. Wheelchair Sunrise's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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. Wheelchair Sunrise's 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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Wheelchair Sunrise's 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. Wheelchair Sunrise's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
