Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B)
This case focuses on implementing and sustaining improvements designed by a Six Sigma team working in the emergency department of an academic medical hospital. Execution details of the various phases of Six Sigma are presented in the A case (UV0339). The team's Black Belt has decided to use stakeholder-resistance analyses to help the team increase stakeholder acceptance of the process-improvement changes that have been tested via a pilot study. The B case asks students to conduct a stakeholder's resistance analysis, develop influence strategies and communication plans for addressing the project's acceptance challenges, and prepare elevator speeches for key stakeholders identified in the A case. The B case also provides an opportunity for the instructor to build on the Change Acceleration Process (CAP) and the CAP tools that were presented in the A case. See also the C case (UV3524).
Authors :: Robert D. Landel, Dee C. San, Debra Altschuler
Swot Analysis of "Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B)" written by Robert D. Landel, Dee C. San, Debra Altschuler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sigma Cap facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams, Operations management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sigma Cap, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sigma Cap
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 Sigma Cap
Strengths Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sigma Cap in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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
– Sigma Cap is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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
– Sigma Cap is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Sigma Cap
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sigma Cap does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Sigma Cap has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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.
Analytics focus
– Sigma Cap 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 Robert D. Landel, Dee C. San, Debra Altschuler 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.
Learning organization
- Sigma Cap 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 Sigma Cap is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sigma Cap digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sigma Cap 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sigma Cap in the sector have low bargaining power. Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sigma Cap to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B), is just above the industry average. Sigma Cap 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sigma Cap is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Sigma Cap 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sigma Cap 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 Sigma Cap 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 - Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sigma Cap 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B), 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, Robert D. Landel, Dee C. San, Debra Altschuler suggests that, Sigma Cap 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sigma Cap, firm in the HBR case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Sigma Cap 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.
Opportunities Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) | 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sigma Cap 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sigma Cap 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sigma Cap to increase its market reach. Sigma Cap 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Sigma Cap can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sigma Cap 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sigma Cap has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sigma Cap to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) case study. Sigma Cap can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sigma Cap 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. Sigma Cap 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sigma Cap can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sigma Cap 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sigma Cap to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Sigma Cap 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sigma Cap can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sigma Cap 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 Sigma Cap to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sigma Cap 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Threats Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sigma Cap 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sigma Cap 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.
Environmental challenges
– Sigma Cap 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. Sigma Cap can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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. Sigma Cap 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sigma Cap in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sigma Cap has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sigma Cap needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sigma Cap with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sigma Cap is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 Sigma Cap.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B), Sigma Cap 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 .
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. Sigma Cap can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (B) 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 Sigma Cap needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.