The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care
In 2006, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was an internationally leading institution for cancer care, education, and research. Since 1996, it had successfully reorganized itself from a cancer hospital that was physically organized around clinical specialties into one that was organized into disease-based integrated practice units called multidisciplinary care centers. These units were supported by a new construction project that had created new disease-specific facilities and a widely-supported administrative plan in which physicians reported both to leadership of specialty-based academic departments and disease-based clinical centers.
Swot Analysis of "The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care" written by Michael E. Porter, Sachin H Jain includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cancer Disease facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cancer Disease, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cancer Disease 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cancer Disease
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 Cancer Disease
Strengths The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cancer Disease in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cancer Disease in the sector have low bargaining power. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cancer Disease 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 Cancer Disease digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cancer Disease 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cancer Disease to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cancer Disease to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Cancer Disease has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cancer Disease to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cancer Disease are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cancer Disease has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cancer Disease 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cancer Disease 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Cancer Disease 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, Sachin H Jain 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cancer Disease
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cancer Disease does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Cancer Disease has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cancer Disease is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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.
Weaknesses The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 Cancer Disease supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cancer Disease 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, Cancer Disease is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cancer Disease 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. Cancer Disease even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael E. Porter, Sachin H Jain suggests that, Cancer Disease 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care HBR case study mentions - Cancer Disease 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cancer Disease is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care 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 Cancer Disease has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cancer Disease 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cancer Disease 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cancer Disease 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 - The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care are -
Manufacturing automation
– Cancer Disease 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cancer Disease is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care 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.
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. Cancer Disease can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Cancer Disease 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 Cancer Disease 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cancer Disease can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cancer Disease 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cancer Disease can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cancer Disease operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cancer Disease 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 Cancer Disease to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cancer Disease 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. Cancer Disease 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. Cancer Disease 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, Cancer Disease 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, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cancer Disease 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.
Threats The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cancer Disease has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cancer Disease 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.
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. Cancer Disease can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cancer Disease 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cancer Disease is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cancer Disease 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care .
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. Cancer Disease 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.
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.
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 Cancer Disease.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cancer Disease 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 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. Cancer Disease needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cancer Disease 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 Cancer Disease business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer 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 Cancer Disease needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
