Swot Analysis of "American Nursing Services, Inc." written by W. Earl Sasser Jr., Leonard A. Schlesinger, Roger Hallowell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that P.k R.n facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in American Nursing Services, Inc. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Health, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the American Nursing Services, Inc. casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of American Nursing Services, Inc.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in American Nursing Services, Inc. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the P.k R.n, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which P.k R.n 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in American Nursing Services, Inc. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of P.k R.n
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 P.k R.n
Strengths American Nursing Services, Inc. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of P.k R.n in American Nursing Services, Inc. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- P.k R.n 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 P.k R.n is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in American Nursing Services, Inc. Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of P.k R.n in the sector have low bargaining power. American Nursing Services, Inc. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps P.k R.n 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 P.k R.n digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. P.k R.n 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.
Innovation driven organization
– P.k R.n is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in American Nursing Services, Inc. Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– P.k R.n 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of P.k R.n
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that P.k R.n does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– P.k R.n is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in American Nursing Services, Inc. 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the American Nursing Services, Inc. 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– P.k R.n 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the P.k R.n 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.
Training and development
– P.k R.n has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in American Nursing Services, Inc. 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– P.k R.n has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. P.k R.n 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.
Weaknesses American Nursing Services, Inc. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of American Nursing Services, Inc. are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of P.k R.n, firm in the HBR case study American Nursing Services, Inc. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– P.k R.n 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 P.k R.n products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, P.k R.n needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though P.k R.n 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 - American Nursing Services, Inc. should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, P.k R.n 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as P.k R.n is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, W. Earl Sasser Jr., Leonard A. Schlesinger, Roger Hallowell suggests that, P.k R.n 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As American Nursing Services, Inc. HBR case study mentions - P.k R.n takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study American Nursing Services, Inc., it seems that the employees of P.k R.n 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, P.k R.n is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study American Nursing Services, Inc. can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of P.k R.n is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. P.k R.n needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help P.k R.n to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities American Nursing Services, Inc. | 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– P.k R.n 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.
Loyalty marketing
– P.k R.n 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, P.k R.n 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, American Nursing Services, Inc., to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for P.k R.n 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 P.k R.n to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. P.k R.n can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for P.k R.n 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– P.k R.n 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, P.k R.n 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.
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. P.k R.n can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects P.k R.n can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 P.k R.n in the consumer business. Now P.k R.n can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help P.k R.n to increase its market reach. P.k R.n 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, P.k R.n is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. American Nursing Services, Inc. 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.
Threats American Nursing Services, Inc. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study American Nursing Services, Inc. are -
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 P.k R.n.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that P.k R.n is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. P.k R.n 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, P.k R.n 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for P.k R.n 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study American Nursing Services, Inc., P.k R.n 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.
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 P.k R.n business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of P.k R.n
– 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 P.k R.n.
Consumer confidence and its impact on P.k R.n 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– P.k R.n 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents P.k R.n with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– P.k R.n 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. P.k R.n can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 American Nursing Services, Inc. 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 P.k R.n needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.