Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care
Individuals enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, known as dual eligibles, are among the highest-cost beneficiaries in the US. Commonwealth Care Alliance, a small nonprofit insurer and care delivery system in Massachusetts, operated under a public demonstration program designed to provide comprehensive coverage and care for the elderly dual eligible population. Led by Dr. Robert Master, Commonwealth Care Alliance worked with its contracted providers to implement and support a care delivery model that could allow as many members as possible to live independently outside of nursing homes. The case examines Commonwealth Care Alliance's insurance and care delivery approaches amidst a changing policy environment and various resource constraints. This case can be used to teach: Approaches to value-based insurance and care delivery; Insurance and care delivery considerations for underserved, high-cost populations; Evolution and structure of US Medicare and state Medicaid programs and demonstrations; and payer and provider reimbursement models.
Swot Analysis of "Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care" written by Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Care Commonwealth facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Personnel policies and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Care Commonwealth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Care Commonwealth
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 Care Commonwealth
Strengths Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Care Commonwealth in Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Care Commonwealth in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Care Commonwealth has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Care Commonwealth 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Care Commonwealth in the sector have low bargaining power. Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Care Commonwealth to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Care Commonwealth digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Care Commonwealth has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Innovation driven organization
– Care Commonwealth is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Care Commonwealth is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Care Commonwealth 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 Care Commonwealth 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)
– Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Care Commonwealth has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Care Commonwealth to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Care Commonwealth 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 Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron 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.
Weaknesses Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Care Commonwealth supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Care Commonwealth vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Care Commonwealth 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Care Commonwealth 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. Care Commonwealth 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Care Commonwealth 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 - Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care, in the dynamic environment Care Commonwealth has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Care Commonwealth has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Care Commonwealth 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care, it seems that the employees of Care Commonwealth 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Care Commonwealth has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Care Commonwealth 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Care Commonwealth is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Care Commonwealth needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Care Commonwealth to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Care Commonwealth is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care | 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care are -
Loyalty marketing
– Care Commonwealth 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Care Commonwealth to increase its market reach. Care Commonwealth 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Care Commonwealth can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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. Care Commonwealth can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Care Commonwealth 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Care Commonwealth has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Care Commonwealth to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care case study. Care Commonwealth can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Care Commonwealth 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 Care Commonwealth to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Care Commonwealth to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Care Commonwealth 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.
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. Care Commonwealth 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. Care Commonwealth 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Care Commonwealth 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, Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Care Commonwealth can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Care Commonwealth operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Care Commonwealth 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.
Threats Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Care Commonwealth 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.
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 Care Commonwealth in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Care Commonwealth has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Care Commonwealth 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Care Commonwealth 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Care Commonwealth 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. Care Commonwealth can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Care Commonwealth business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Care Commonwealth 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.
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. Care Commonwealth needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Care Commonwealth 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Commonwealth Care Alliance: Elderly and Disabled Care 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 Care Commonwealth needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
