Case Study Description of Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A)
Focuses on modifying operations to increase profitability at an upscale senior care facility in California. Jennifer Raiser, president of Raiser Senior Services, opened the Stratford in 1992 as a high-end, continuing-care retirement community. Ten years later, the Stratford was known as one of the most prestigious senior care communities in the Bay Area, but management struggled to keep the facility from losing money each year. Raiser and her management team were finding it difficult to raise the monthly fees each year to match the increasing costs of providing services to the aging residents. As a result, the team needed to find ways to take costs out of running the business. Contains an in-depth review of the operations associated with the primary expense categories--health care and dining services--allowing students to find specific opportunities for savings.
Authors :: H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Swot Analysis of "Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A)" written by H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Raiser Stratford facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs, Demographics, Ethics, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Raiser Stratford, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Raiser Stratford
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 Raiser Stratford
Strengths Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Raiser Stratford in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Raiser Stratford to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Raiser Stratford to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Raiser Stratford is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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
– Raiser Stratford is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Raiser Stratford in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Raiser Stratford has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Raiser Stratford
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Raiser Stratford does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Raiser Stratford 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 H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld 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
- Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Stratford is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Raiser Stratford in the sector have low bargaining power. Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Raiser Stratford to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Raiser Stratford digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Raiser Stratford 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.
Weaknesses Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld suggests that, Raiser Stratford 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A), is just above the industry average. Raiser Stratford 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A), in the dynamic environment Raiser Stratford has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Raiser Stratford has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Stratford 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Raiser Stratford is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Raiser Stratford needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Raiser Stratford to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Raiser Stratford is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Raiser Stratford is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Raiser Stratford 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. Raiser Stratford 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Raiser Stratford 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Raiser Stratford 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Raiser Stratford, firm in the HBR case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) | 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Raiser Stratford 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Raiser Stratford can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Raiser Stratford can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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, Raiser Stratford can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Raiser Stratford operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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. Raiser Stratford 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. Raiser Stratford 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Raiser Stratford is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Raiser Stratford 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.
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 Raiser Stratford in the consumer business. Now Raiser Stratford can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Raiser Stratford 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Stratford to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Raiser Stratford 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Raiser Stratford 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Raiser Stratford 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.
Threats Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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. Raiser Stratford can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Raiser Stratford 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.
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. Raiser Stratford 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
– Raiser Stratford has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Raiser Stratford 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.
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 Raiser Stratford business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Raiser Stratford is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Raiser Stratford 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A), Raiser Stratford 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 .
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Raiser Stratford 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. Raiser Stratford can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Increasing wage structure of Raiser Stratford
– 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 Raiser Stratford.
Regulatory challenges
– Raiser Stratford 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A) 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 Raiser Stratford needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.