Swot Analysis of "Hospital Clinic de Barcelona" written by Richard M. J. Bohmer, Daniela Beyersdorfer, Jaume Ribera includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Barcelona Clinic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational structure and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hospital Clinic de Barcelona
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Barcelona Clinic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Barcelona Clinic 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Barcelona Clinic
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 Barcelona Clinic
Strengths Hospital Clinic de Barcelona | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Barcelona Clinic in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Hospital Clinic de Barcelona firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Barcelona Clinic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Barcelona Clinic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Barcelona Clinic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Barcelona Clinic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Barcelona Clinic 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Barcelona Clinic 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Barcelona Clinic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Barcelona Clinic 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Barcelona Clinic in the sector have low bargaining power. Hospital Clinic de Barcelona has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Barcelona Clinic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Barcelona Clinic 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 Richard M. J. Bohmer, Daniela Beyersdorfer, Jaume Ribera 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
– Barcelona Clinic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Barcelona Clinic 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 Barcelona Clinic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Barcelona Clinic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Barcelona Clinic 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hospital Clinic de Barcelona are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Barcelona Clinic, firm in the HBR case study Hospital Clinic de Barcelona needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Barcelona Clinic has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Barcelona Clinic 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hospital Clinic de Barcelona HBR case study mentions - Barcelona Clinic 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Barcelona Clinic 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Barcelona Clinic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Barcelona Clinic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Barcelona Clinic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Barcelona Clinic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Barcelona Clinic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Barcelona Clinic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Barcelona Clinic 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 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 Barcelona Clinic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Barcelona Clinic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Hospital Clinic de Barcelona | 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Barcelona Clinic 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, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Barcelona Clinic 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Barcelona Clinic 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, Barcelona Clinic 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Barcelona Clinic 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Barcelona Clinic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Barcelona Clinic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Barcelona Clinic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Barcelona Clinic 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.
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. Barcelona Clinic 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. Barcelona Clinic 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Barcelona Clinic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Barcelona Clinic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona case study. Barcelona Clinic 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 Barcelona Clinic 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 Barcelona Clinic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Barcelona Clinic in the consumer business. Now Barcelona Clinic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Barcelona Clinic 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.
Threats Hospital Clinic de Barcelona External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hospital Clinic de Barcelona are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Barcelona Clinic 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. Barcelona Clinic 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona Clinic 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Barcelona Clinic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Barcelona Clinic 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. Barcelona Clinic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Barcelona Clinic 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. Barcelona Clinic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Barcelona Clinic 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.
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 Barcelona Clinic.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Barcelona Clinic 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 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.
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 Barcelona Clinic in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Barcelona Clinic
– 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 Barcelona Clinic.
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 Barcelona Clinic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Hospital Clinic de Barcelona 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 Barcelona Clinic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
