Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?
Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital (KNMH) is a non-profit, non-government trust organization that is managed by the Gandhi-Nehru family, India's premier political family which gave the country three generations of prime ministers. Members of the family continue to be at the helm of the board. The hospital specializes in the areas of Obstetrics and Gynecology (O&G) and Oncology and has several supporting departments. It is a very reputed hospital in Allahabad, in the highly populated state of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India, and draws patients from nearby states, primarily from the Eastern part of India where infrastructure is largely underdeveloped, and from other developing countries such as Nepal and Bhutan. The hospital is endowed by the Trust. Due to its reach, it attracts funds from governmental and non-governmental agencies as an implementing agency for several of their health schemes and initiatives. The hospital operated independently and without a formal administrative structure for many years. Consequently, the governance as well as the efficiency of hospital operations had been going downhill for some time, with the result that patients were choosing other hospitals and nursing homes over KNMH. Decreasing revenues and inefficient operations led to operational losses. After the next generation of the Gandhi-Nehru family joined the governing board, there was some rethinking at the top about the way forward for the hospital. They decided that the time had come to manage the hospital professionally in order to be able to serve patients in a more efficient and effective manner. It was in this setting that Dr. Madhu Chandra, a pathologist and PhD, who had served at a corporate hospital (Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad), was appointed Chief Executive Officer of KNMH. Her goal was to streamline hospital operations and put it back on a growth trajectory.
Swot Analysis of "Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?" written by Naga Lakshmi Damaraju, Prafulla Rawal, Bavneet Singh, Himanshu Jain includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hospital Nehru facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational structure and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hospital Nehru, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hospital Nehru 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hospital Nehru
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 Hospital Nehru
Strengths Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hospital Nehru in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hospital Nehru in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Hospital Nehru
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hospital Nehru does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Hospital Nehru is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Hospital Nehru has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hospital Nehru 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
– Hospital Nehru 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 Naga Lakshmi Damaraju, Prafulla Rawal, Bavneet Singh, Himanshu 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.
High brand equity
– Hospital Nehru has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hospital Nehru to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hospital Nehru in the sector have low bargaining power. Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hospital Nehru to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hospital Nehru has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hospital Nehru 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hospital Nehru 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Hospital Nehru is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Hospital Nehru is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Hospital Nehru 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 Hospital Nehru in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hospital Nehru 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? HBR case study mentions - Hospital Nehru 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hospital Nehru, firm in the HBR case study Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hospital Nehru products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hospital Nehru needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Hospital Nehru 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hospital Nehru 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. Hospital Nehru 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hospital Nehru is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Hospital Nehru needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hospital Nehru to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Hospital Nehru supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hospital Nehru vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hospital Nehru needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hospital Nehru is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?, 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.
Opportunities Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? | 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? are -
Loyalty marketing
– Hospital Nehru 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, Hospital Nehru 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, Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hospital Nehru 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hospital Nehru 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hospital Nehru to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hospital Nehru has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hospital Nehru to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? case study. Hospital Nehru can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hospital Nehru 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
– Hospital Nehru can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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.
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. Hospital Nehru can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Hospital Nehru 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hospital Nehru to increase its market reach. Hospital Nehru 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hospital Nehru can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hospital Nehru operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Hospital Nehru can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hospital Nehru can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? are -
Increasing wage structure of Hospital Nehru
– 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 Hospital Nehru.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward?, Hospital Nehru 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 .
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.
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. Hospital Nehru can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hospital Nehru 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.
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 Hospital Nehru in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hospital Nehru 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hospital Nehru 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hospital Nehru 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.
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. Hospital Nehru needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hospital Nehru is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Hospital Nehru business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hospital Nehru 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital: Which Way Forward? 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 Hospital Nehru needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.