Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market
Be Well Hospitals - a multi-specialty secondary healthcare chain of hospitals is set up in the suburbs, industrial towns and district headquarters of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The hospital chain co-founded by Dr. C.J.Vetrievel in 2011, fulfills the need of quality healthcare services in secondary healthcare market segment. They provide access to high-quality primary and secondary healthcare services at affordable price to the semi-urban and rural population through their chain of multi-specialty hospitals. In the four and half years, since its founding, Be Well has set up eight hospitals with a combined capacity of more than 280 beds and has treated close to 500,000 patients. The case describes Be Well's operations and the marketing initiatives it deployed to increase the adoption of its service concept in a two -tiered market. it provides information about the content of Be Well's past advertising communications and the media choices it made to build its brand. The management is grappling with the dilemma of brand building and educating potential customers about the high quality of care available at Be Well in a format that had a smaller footprint than its big city rivals. A complicating factor is creating a three-tier market with the limited resources in a setting where the customers are used to a two-tier service structure. They face a resource allocation challenge with regard to the mix of media-based and non-media based communication platforms. The management needs to decided on the choice of service attributes or dimensions around which the Be Well brand to be built and whether to focus on local branding of each hospital or develop a unified and common brand across all its facilities in the state.
Authors :: Piyush Kumar, Sonia Mehrotra, Geetika Shah
Swot Analysis of "Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market" written by Piyush Kumar, Sonia Mehrotra, Geetika Shah includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hospitals Tier facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hospitals Tier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hospitals Tier 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hospitals Tier
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hospitals Tier
Strengths Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hospitals Tier in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Hospitals Tier is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Hospitals Tier 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 Piyush Kumar, Sonia Mehrotra, Geetika Shah 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hospitals Tier 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.
Learning organization
- Hospitals Tier 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 Hospitals Tier is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Hospitals Tier has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hospitals Tier in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hospitals Tier digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hospitals Tier 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hospitals Tier is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hospitals Tier 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hospitals Tier in the sector have low bargaining power. Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hospitals Tier to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Hospitals Tier 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hospitals Tier 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. Hospitals Tier 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hospitals Tier 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Hospitals Tier 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hospitals Tier needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hospitals Tier 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hospitals Tier is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Hospitals Tier has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hospitals Tier 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market HBR case study mentions - Hospitals Tier 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 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 Hospitals Tier supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hospitals Tier vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market | 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hospitals Tier 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, Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hospitals Tier has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hospitals Tier to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market case study. Hospitals Tier can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Hospitals Tier can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hospitals Tier operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Hospitals Tier 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 Hospitals Tier in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hospitals Tier 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Hospitals Tier can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hospitals Tier 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. Hospitals Tier 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hospitals Tier 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
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 Hospitals Tier in the consumer business. Now Hospitals Tier can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hospitals Tier can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hospitals Tier can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Hospitals Tier 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.
Threats Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hospitals Tier has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hospitals Tier needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Hospitals Tier business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Hospitals Tier needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hospitals Tier 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.
Environmental challenges
– Hospitals Tier 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. Hospitals Tier can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Hospitals Tier.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hospitals Tier 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.
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 Hospitals Tier in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hospitals Tier in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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. Hospitals Tier will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hospitals Tier 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market, Hospitals Tier may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Be Well Hospitals - Branding a Mid-Tier Service in a Two-Tier Market 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 Hospitals Tier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.