Complexity and Error in Medicine SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Complexity and Error in Medicine
Reviews the issues underlying the rate of error in medical practice and discusses the range of potential management interventions to decrease the risk of error.
Swot Analysis of "Complexity and Error in Medicine" written by Richard Bohmer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Error Interventions facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Complexity and Error in Medicine case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Complexity and Error in Medicine casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Complexity and Error in Medicine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Complexity and Error in Medicine case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Error Interventions, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Error Interventions 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Complexity and Error in Medicine case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Error Interventions
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 Error Interventions
Strengths Complexity and Error in Medicine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Error Interventions in Complexity and Error in Medicine Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Error Interventions in the sector have low bargaining power. Complexity and Error in Medicine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Error Interventions to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Error Interventions has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Error Interventions to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Error Interventions 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Error Interventions
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Error Interventions does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Error Interventions 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 Error Interventions is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Complexity and Error in Medicine Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Error Interventions has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Error Interventions 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Error Interventions 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 Error Interventions in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Complexity and Error in Medicine 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Error Interventions is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Complexity and Error in Medicine Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Error Interventions is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Error Interventions 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.
Training and development
– Error Interventions has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Complexity and Error in Medicine 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.
Weaknesses Complexity and Error in Medicine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Complexity and Error in Medicine are -
Need for greater diversity
– Error Interventions 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Error Interventions, firm in the HBR case study Complexity and Error in Medicine needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Error Interventions 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. Error Interventions 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Complexity and Error in Medicine, is just above the industry average. Error Interventions 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.
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 Error Interventions supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Complexity and Error in Medicine, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Error Interventions vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Error Interventions has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Complexity and Error in Medicine, in the dynamic environment Error Interventions has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Error Interventions has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Complexity and Error in Medicine HBR case study mentions - Error Interventions 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Error Interventions 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Richard Bohmer suggests that, Error Interventions 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Error Interventions has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Complexity and Error in Medicine | 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine are -
Buying journey improvements
– Error Interventions can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Complexity and Error in Medicine suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Loyalty marketing
– Error Interventions 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Error Interventions 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Error Interventions 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Error Interventions 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Error Interventions 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, Complexity and Error in Medicine, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Error Interventions 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.
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 Error Interventions in the consumer business. Now Error Interventions can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Error Interventions can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Error Interventions 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Error Interventions to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Error Interventions 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. Error Interventions 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Error Interventions can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Error Interventions operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Error Interventions has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Error Interventions to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Complexity and Error in Medicine case study. Error Interventions can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Complexity and Error in Medicine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Complexity and Error in Medicine are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Error Interventions 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Error Interventions 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Complexity and Error in Medicine, Error Interventions 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Error Interventions 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.
Increasing wage structure of Error Interventions
– 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 Error Interventions.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Error Interventions 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.
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. Error Interventions can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Error Interventions.
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 Error Interventions business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Error Interventions is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Error Interventions in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Error Interventions 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 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Complexity and Error in Medicine 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 Error Interventions needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.