Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan
Taiwan's Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center has developed an integrated, team-based care delivery model for breast cancer care that is being expanded to other cancer types in 2009. A decade earlier, President and CEO Dr. Andrew Huang and the Center had worked with the Taiwan National Health Insurance system to create a pay-for-performance reimbursement program for breast cancer care that has since been adopted by five other providers. The program issues capitated, per patient base payments for breast cancer care, with bonus payments based upon provider reporting and performance on a set of quality measures. This case allows readers to examine health care provider strategy, development and implementation of bundled reimbursement, integrated care delivery, quality measurement, and Taiwan's universal health care system.
Authors :: Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron, C. Jason Wang
Swot Analysis of "Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan" written by Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron, C. Jason Wang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cancer Care facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cancer Care, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cancer Care 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cancer Care
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 Care
Strengths Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cancer Care in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cancer Care digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cancer Care 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cancer Care to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cancer Care to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Cancer Care 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, C. Jason Wang 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cancer Care in the sector have low bargaining power. Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cancer Care to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cancer Care 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Cancer Care is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cancer Care 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cancer Care 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cancer Care 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cancer Care is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cancer Care is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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.
Weaknesses Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Cancer Care 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Care has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron, C. Jason Wang suggests that, Cancer Care 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cancer Care 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan, it seems that the employees of Cancer Care don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cancer Care has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan, in the dynamic environment Cancer Care has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cancer Care has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cancer Care 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 - Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cancer Care is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cancer Care, firm in the HBR case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cancer Care is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan | 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan are -
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 Care 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cancer Care 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. Cancer Care can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cancer Care has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cancer Care to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan case study. Cancer Care can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cancer Care in the consumer business. Now Cancer Care can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cancer Care 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cancer Care 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cancer Care 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, Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cancer Care 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cancer Care to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cancer Care can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cancer Care is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cancer Care can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Care can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cancer Care 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan, Cancer Care 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 .
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 Care can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Care will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cancer Care is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cancer Care 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Cancer Care 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. Cancer Care can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cancer Care has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cancer Care 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, Cancer Care 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cancer Care 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cancer Care with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center: Breast Cancer Care in Taiwan 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 Care needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
