Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals
Established in 1983, Apollo Hospitals is one of India's largest hospital chains. In 2014, Apollo had 32 hospitals spread across the country. The focus of this case is of the Apollo Hospital at Bangalore. The quality head, Dr. Ananth Rao was worried about the food bill that accounted for 4% of the total cost and wanted to develop a forecasting model to estimate the demand for food and beverages being served to its patients for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Accurate forecasting will help them to minimize the wastage of food resulting in reduction of food bill. Apollo served approximately 120 food items from its kitchen. Dr Rao believed that the demand for food was dependent on the occupancy level (number of in-patients) of the hospital. Moreover, he also expected a short-term trend in the food requirement because patients are likely to order similar food during their course of stay in the hospital - this is because of dietary restrictions as also the fact that people would generally not wish to experiment with food in a hospital environment. The profile of the patients in the hospital is unlikely to vary significantly over a period of time and so it is expected that the food trend will not change much with time.
Swot Analysis of "Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals" written by Sujoy Roychowdhury, Alok Shrivastava, Dinesh Kumar Unnikrishnan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Food Apollo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Food Apollo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Food Apollo 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Food Apollo
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 Food Apollo
Strengths Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Food Apollo in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Food Apollo in the sector have low bargaining power. Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Food Apollo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Food Apollo is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Food Apollo 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Food Apollo is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Food Apollo 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
– Food Apollo 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Food Apollo 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.
High brand equity
– Food Apollo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Food Apollo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Food Apollo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Food Apollo 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.
Analytics focus
– Food Apollo 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 Sujoy Roychowdhury, Alok Shrivastava, Dinesh Kumar Unnikrishnan 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Food Apollo is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Food Apollo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Food Apollo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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.
Weaknesses Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Food Apollo 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Food Apollo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Food Apollo, firm in the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Food Apollo 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. Food Apollo 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.
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 Food Apollo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Food Apollo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, it seems that the employees of Food Apollo 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals HBR case study mentions - Food Apollo 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Food Apollo 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Food Apollo is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, is just above the industry average. Food Apollo 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.
Opportunities Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals | 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals are -
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Food Apollo to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– Food Apollo 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Food Apollo 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Food Apollo 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Food Apollo 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Food Apollo to increase its market reach. Food Apollo 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Food Apollo 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Food Apollo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Food Apollo 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.
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. Food Apollo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Food Apollo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Food Apollo to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals case study. Food Apollo can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Food Apollo 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, Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Food Apollo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Food Apollo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Food Apollo 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Food Apollo is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals, Food Apollo 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
– Food Apollo 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. Food Apollo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Food Apollo in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Food Apollo can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Food Apollo 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 wage structure of Food Apollo
– 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 Food Apollo.
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 Food Apollo.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Food Apollo 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Food Apollo 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Food Apollo 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Forecasting Demand for Food at Apollo Hospitals 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 Food Apollo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.