Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine
Margaret McLaughlin has just begun her new appointment as the Dean of Health Professions at the College of St. Catherine in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. As an education leader, her charge is to develop Minnesota's health care workforce for the future. She is approached by members of her nursing faculty, who want her to consider launching their very own nurse-practitioner-run clinic. Typically, clinics have been run and directed by physicians. The faculty have suggested four options for the kind of clinic they might run, and McLaughlin must advise them on a course of action. Teaching Purpose: Students will select the kind of nurse practitioner clinic that would be most appropriate for the College of St. Catherine. The analysis will begin by examining the context in which the college is operating and discuss the major criteria that need to be used in making this decision. They will consider the move "up-market" for nurse practitioners' over time, as they have taken on more responsibilities similar in nature to those of a physician. Specifically, students will discuss how nurse practitioners' work has changed over time and the regulations, technological innovations, patient needs, and infrastructure developments that have encouraged this change. Finally, students will debate whether it would make sense to launch their own clinic. They will choose among four options for how the clinic might look, whom it would serve, and how it would be organized.
Swot Analysis of "Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine" written by Clayton M. Christensen, Sarah Thorp includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nurse Clinic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Disruptive innovation, Leadership, Organizational culture, Social enterprise, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nurse Clinic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nurse Clinic 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nurse Clinic
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nurse Clinic
Strengths Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nurse Clinic in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nurse Clinic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nurse Clinic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nurse Clinic 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
– Nurse Clinic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nurse Clinic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nurse Clinic 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nurse Clinic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nurse Clinic 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nurse Clinic in the sector have low bargaining power. Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nurse Clinic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nurse Clinic 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Nurse Clinic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nurse Clinic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Nurse Clinic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Nurse Clinic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, is just above the industry average. Nurse Clinic 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Clayton M. Christensen, Sarah Thorp suggests that, Nurse Clinic 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nurse Clinic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Nurse Clinic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nurse Clinic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, in the dynamic environment Nurse Clinic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nurse Clinic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nurse Clinic 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, it seems that the employees of Nurse Clinic 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nurse Clinic 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.
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 Nurse Clinic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nurse Clinic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nurse Clinic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nurse Clinic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nurse Clinic 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.
Opportunities Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine | 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nurse Clinic 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nurse Clinic in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nurse Clinic 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, Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Nurse Clinic 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
– Nurse Clinic 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nurse Clinic 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, Nurse Clinic 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.
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 Nurse Clinic in the consumer business. Now Nurse Clinic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nurse Clinic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nurse Clinic 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 Nurse Clinic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nurse Clinic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nurse Clinic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine case study. Nurse Clinic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nurse Clinic to increase its market reach. Nurse Clinic 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Nurse Clinic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nurse Clinic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nurse Clinic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Threats Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nurse Clinic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nurse Clinic is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Nurse Clinic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Nurse Clinic 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 Technology & Operations 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. Nurse Clinic 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine, Nurse Clinic may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
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 Nurse Clinic.
Increasing wage structure of Nurse Clinic
– 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 Nurse Clinic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nurse Clinic 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.
Environmental challenges
– Nurse Clinic 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. Nurse Clinic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nurse Clinic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nurse Clinic 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Developing Nurse Practioners at the College of St. Catherine 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 Nurse Clinic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
