Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care
Describes the Spine Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a multidisciplinary unit that offers patients suffering from spinal problems "one-stop" access to a range of providers including orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, medical specialists in physical medicine and pain management, mental health providers, and occupational and physical therapists. The Center was created to address what its founder, James Weinstein, M.D., saw as the uncoordinated and inefficient delivery of spinal care in the United States. The Center emphasized using non-surgical treatments (e.g., physical therapy and exercise, behavioral modification, pain-relieving drugs) as either a complement to, or substitute for, surgical procedures, and patients were actively engaged in the process of determining what type of care to pursue. In addition, Weinstein and his staff collected data from the Center's clinical practice to conduct academic research on the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of various approaches to treatment. The case allows for a critical analysis of the Spine Center's unique approach to care delivery and provides an opportunity to examine the applicability of this model in other clinical areas.
Authors :: Robert S. Huckman, Michael E. Porter, Rachel Gordon, Natalie Kindred
Swot Analysis of "Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care" written by Robert S. Huckman, Michael E. Porter, Rachel Gordon, Natalie Kindred includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Spine Hitchcock facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational structure and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Spine Hitchcock, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Spine Hitchcock 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Spine Hitchcock
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 Spine Hitchcock
Strengths Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Spine Hitchcock in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Spine Hitchcock in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Spine Hitchcock 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Spine Hitchcock is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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
– Spine Hitchcock has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Spine Hitchcock 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Spine Hitchcock to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Spine Hitchcock to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Spine Hitchcock 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 S. Huckman, Michael E. Porter, Rachel Gordon, Natalie Kindred 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Spine Hitchcock is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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
– Spine Hitchcock has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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.
High brand equity
– Spine Hitchcock has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Spine Hitchcock to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Spine Hitchcock 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Spine Hitchcock is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care are -
Need for greater diversity
– Spine Hitchcock has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of Spine Hitchcock products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Spine Hitchcock needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Spine Hitchcock supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Spine Hitchcock vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care, in the dynamic environment Spine Hitchcock has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Spine Hitchcock 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, Spine Hitchcock has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Spine Hitchcock 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Spine Hitchcock 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Spine Hitchcock 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. Spine Hitchcock 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Spine Hitchcock is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Spine Hitchcock 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Spine Hitchcock, firm in the HBR case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care | 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care are -
Loyalty marketing
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
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. Spine Hitchcock can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Spine Hitchcock 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Spine Hitchcock 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Spine Hitchcock is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Spine Hitchcock 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Spine Hitchcock to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Spine Hitchcock in the consumer business. Now Spine Hitchcock can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Spine Hitchcock has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Spine Hitchcock to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care case study. Spine Hitchcock 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 Spine Hitchcock 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 Spine Hitchcock to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Spine Hitchcock can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Spine Hitchcock operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Threats Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Spine Hitchcock has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Spine Hitchcock 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.
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. Spine Hitchcock needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Spine Hitchcock 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Spine Hitchcock
– 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 Spine Hitchcock.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Spine Hitchcock 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care, Spine Hitchcock 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Spine Hitchcock 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. Spine Hitchcock 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 Spine Hitchcock with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Spine Hitchcock 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Spine Hitchcock 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Spine Care 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 Spine Hitchcock needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.