Swot Analysis of "Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E)" written by Steven J. Spear includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Glover Deaconess facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational structure, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Glover Deaconess, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Glover Deaconess 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Glover Deaconess
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 Glover Deaconess
Strengths Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Glover Deaconess in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Glover Deaconess 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
– Glover Deaconess has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Glover Deaconess to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Glover Deaconess is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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.
Training and development
– Glover Deaconess has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Glover Deaconess 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Glover Deaconess 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 Glover Deaconess in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Glover Deaconess 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 Steven J. Spear 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Glover Deaconess has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Glover Deaconess 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.
Organizational Resilience of Glover Deaconess
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Glover Deaconess does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Glover Deaconess in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Glover Deaconess 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 Glover Deaconess is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Glover Deaconess 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) HBR case study mentions - Glover Deaconess 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Glover Deaconess 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E), 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Steven J. Spear suggests that, Glover Deaconess 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Glover Deaconess is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Glover Deaconess needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Glover Deaconess to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Glover Deaconess 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Glover Deaconess 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 - Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E), it seems that the employees of Glover Deaconess 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Glover Deaconess 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E), is just above the industry average. Glover Deaconess 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) | 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Glover Deaconess 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, Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Glover Deaconess 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Glover Deaconess 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Glover Deaconess 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 Glover Deaconess to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Glover Deaconess has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Glover Deaconess to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) case study. Glover Deaconess can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Glover Deaconess 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
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Glover Deaconess is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Glover Deaconess can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Glover Deaconess operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Glover Deaconess to increase its market reach. Glover Deaconess 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.
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 Glover Deaconess in the consumer business. Now Glover Deaconess can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Glover Deaconess is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Glover Deaconess has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Glover Deaconess 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.
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. Glover Deaconess can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Glover Deaconess business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E), Glover Deaconess 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 .
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 Glover Deaconess in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Glover Deaconess needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Glover Deaconess in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Glover Deaconess 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Glover Deaconess 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Glover Deaconess with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Glover Deaconess 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Deaconess-Glover Hospital (E) 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 Glover Deaconess needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.