Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth
In January 2016, the chief executive officer of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals (AGH) was reflecting on the 12-year journey that had led to the establishment of AGH as the strongest pillar of holistic healthcare in Eastern India. AGH brought together the best infrastructure, equipment, people, and systems to serve the people of Eastern India with end-to-end tertiary healthcare. The institution grew with a continuous drive for expanding knowledge, introducing the latest technologies, and building a culture of compassion and care. However, AGH's success had led to a shift in focus, drawing the attention of several leading tertiary care hospitals to the untapped healthcare delivery potential in Eastern India. This shift meant increased competition for AGH and higher expectations from its customers. AGH wanted to maintain its leadership position and better understand the organization's future challenges and focus areas. Which business model would best serve the people of India: expanding the current location or launching a multi-location facility? How could AGH maintain its current high level of recognition, expertise, and availability? The authors are affiliated with Institute for Competitiveness.
Swot Analysis of "Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth" written by Sandeep Goyal, Amit Kapoor includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Agh Gleneagles facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization,
technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Agh Gleneagles, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Agh Gleneagles 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Agh Gleneagles
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 Agh Gleneagles
Strengths Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Agh Gleneagles in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Agh Gleneagles to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Agh Gleneagles to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Agh Gleneagles 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Agh Gleneagles is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Agh Gleneagles
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Agh Gleneagles does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Agh Gleneagles in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Agh Gleneagles 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 Agh Gleneagles in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Agh Gleneagles 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Agh Gleneagles 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.
Analytics focus
– Agh Gleneagles 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 Sandeep Goyal, Amit Kapoor 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Agh Gleneagles is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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
– Agh Gleneagles is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Agh Gleneagles 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Agh Gleneagles 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 - Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Agh Gleneagles 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Agh Gleneagles products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Agh Gleneagles needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Agh Gleneagles has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Agh Gleneagles 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Agh Gleneagles is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Agh Gleneagles 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 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 Agh Gleneagles supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Agh Gleneagles vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Agh Gleneagles has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Agh Gleneagles 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth | 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Agh Gleneagles can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Agh Gleneagles 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Agh Gleneagles 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.
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. Agh Gleneagles can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Agh Gleneagles 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Agh Gleneagles 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Agh Gleneagles can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Agh Gleneagles is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Agh Gleneagles 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Agh Gleneagles can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Agh Gleneagles operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Agh Gleneagles has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Agh Gleneagles to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth case study. Agh Gleneagles can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Agh Gleneagles 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Agh Gleneagles 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, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Agh Gleneagles is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Agh Gleneagles
– 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 Agh Gleneagles.
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. Agh Gleneagles can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Agh Gleneagles in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Agh Gleneagles needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Agh Gleneagles 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Agh Gleneagles with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Agh Gleneagles 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.
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. Agh Gleneagles 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.
Environmental challenges
– Agh Gleneagles 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. Agh Gleneagles can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth, Agh Gleneagles 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 .
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 Agh Gleneagles.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Agh Gleneagles 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals: The Next Steps for Growth 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 Agh Gleneagles needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
