Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare
RamA? Hemstreet, vice president for operations and chief sustainable resource officer at Kaiser Permanente, is thinking about climate change and how he can improve the health of the community by fighting it. As a healthcare organization, Kaiser Permanente knows well that fighting climate change can decrease rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments, spread of infectious diseases, heat stress, and injuries from severe weather events. Hemstreet is looking to a power purchase agreement to green its operations, but he needs to persuade executives and the board of directors.
Swot Analysis of "Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare" written by Andrew Hoffman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Permanente Kaiser facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices,
technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Permanente Kaiser, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Permanente Kaiser 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Permanente Kaiser
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 Permanente Kaiser
Strengths Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Permanente Kaiser in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Permanente Kaiser is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Permanente Kaiser 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 Permanente Kaiser in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Permanente Kaiser 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Permanente Kaiser is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Permanente Kaiser has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Permanente Kaiser 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
– Permanente Kaiser 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Permanente Kaiser has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Permanente Kaiser to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Permanente Kaiser to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Permanente Kaiser to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Permanente Kaiser is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Permanente Kaiser
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Permanente Kaiser does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Permanente Kaiser 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 Andrew Hoffman can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Permanente Kaiser 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Permanente Kaiser 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare, is just above the industry average. Permanente Kaiser needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Need for greater diversity
– Permanente Kaiser has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andrew Hoffman suggests that, Permanente Kaiser 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Permanente Kaiser 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Permanente Kaiser is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Permanente Kaiser supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Permanente Kaiser vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Permanente Kaiser 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 - Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Permanente Kaiser 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Permanente Kaiser is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare | 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Permanente Kaiser has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Permanente Kaiser to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare case study. Permanente Kaiser can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Permanente Kaiser 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 Permanente Kaiser to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Permanente Kaiser 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Permanente Kaiser 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Permanente Kaiser can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Permanente Kaiser 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 Permanente Kaiser 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Permanente Kaiser 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Permanente Kaiser 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, Permanente Kaiser 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Permanente Kaiser can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Permanente Kaiser operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Permanente Kaiser in the consumer business. Now Permanente Kaiser can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Permanente Kaiser 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.
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. Permanente Kaiser 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. Permanente Kaiser 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.
Threats Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare are -
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 Permanente Kaiser is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Permanente Kaiser 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. Permanente Kaiser 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Permanente Kaiser has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Permanente Kaiser 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.
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 Permanente Kaiser.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Permanente Kaiser 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.
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. Permanente Kaiser 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 Permanente Kaiser in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Permanente Kaiser business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Permanente Kaiser with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Permanente Kaiser 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare .
Increasing wage structure of Permanente Kaiser
– 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 Permanente Kaiser.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Kaiser Permanente: Linking Renewable Energy and Healthcare 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 Permanente Kaiser needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.